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EXPLANATORY. 


-t  ^  »  »  »- 


The  American  people  have,  during  the  past  year,  heard  much  about  frauds, 
adulteration,  &c.,  in  connection  with  the  importation  and  refining  of  sugar. 
Charges  have  been  made  over  and  over  again,  maliciously,  by  designing  and 
interested  parties.  These  charges  have,  in  every  single  instance,  been  made 
anonymmisly  in  the  press.  The  makers  of  these  charges  have  never  had  the 
manliness  to  make  them  specific — to  mention  the  names  of  those  so  accused 
by  them — and  thus  place  themselves  -within  the  reach  of  law.  They  were  and 
are  afraid  to  do  this.  The  object  they  had  in  view  was  to  make  the  public  be- 
lieve that  certain  importers  and  refiners  of  sugar  were  cheats  and  adul- 
terators— public  enemies — create  a  public  opinion  hostile  to  them,  and  by  the 
pressure  of  that  opinion  force  the  hand  of  Congress  and  the  Senate  to  frame 
the  tariff  for  which  they  have  been  all  along  plotting.  The  following  pages 
are  the  answer  to  these  charges.  In  them  will  be  seen  who  the  accusers  are; 
what  are  their  arguments,  what  their  aims,  and  what  would  be  the  results  of 
their  success  to  one  of  the  greatest  industries  on  this  coatinent.  The  facts 
stated  in  these  pages  can  be  relied  upon  as  true.  Now  tMt  the  public  has  the 
facts,  let  the  public  judge!  \/ Robert  Howe, 

Sugar  man. 


IV116794 


<r> 


MAGNITUDE  OF  THE  QUESTION. 


"That  is  a  Sugar  Refineiy,"  said  old  Ludwig  Kraft  to  a  sallow  colored  gen- 
tleman, who  had  asked  him  what  was  a  great  building  on  the  other  side  of  the 
way.  Kraft  is  a  white-haired  old  fellow  who  has  worked  in  a  refinery  for  the 
last  forty  years.  It  has  been  my  custom,  every  now  and  then,  to  sit  and  chat 
with  the  old  gentleman  for  an  hour  or  so  of  an  evening.  Now,  Kraft  is  a 
rather  rough-spoken  man;  but  he  has  been  a  steady,  careful  reader.  He 
knows  as  much  about  the  real  working  of  a  Sugar  Refinery  as  any  man  in  the 
United  States. 

"A  Sugar  Refinery,"  replied  the  Cuban,  for  such  the  gentleman  was  who 
had  asked  the  question.  It  is  a  large  concern,  I  suppose  it  employs  a  good 
many  hands  ? 

Kraft — That  isn't  by  a  good  deal  the  largest  house  in  the  refining  business, 
and  yet  there  are  a  thousand  men  at  work  over  there  and  in  the  next  one  be- 
longing to  it. 

Cuban — Do  you  work  at  the  sugar  refining  ? 

Kraft — Well,  I  guess  I  do.  I've  worked  at  it  now  over  forty  years.  But 
that  number  of  men  over  there  is  nothing  to  what  are  engaged  in  the  work 
altogether,  that  is  to  say,  the  sugar  men  themselves  and  the  men  that  work  at 
the  different  trades  that  are  kept  going  by  it.  It  is  a  regular  army  of 
men. 

Cuban — About  how  many  do  you  think  work  at  the  refining  and  the  other 
trades  that  depend  on  it? 

Kraft — Well,  I'm  pretty  sure  there  are  not  less  than  thirty-five  or  thirty 
six  thousand. 

Cuban — How  do  you  make  that  out? 

Kraft — Well,  the  tally  would  run  about  so: 

Workmen,  skilled  and  unskilled,  engaged  in  refining. .  10,000 

Coopers- 4,500 

Stave  trimmers,  lumber  cutters,  hoop-makers  in  Mich- 
igan, Ohio,  and  Indiana 20,000 

Machine  makers,  engineers,  etc 2,000 

But  this  does  not  include  all  the  wagon-builders,  carters,  blacksmiths,  ma- 
sons, bricklayers,  and  all  the  other  trades  whose  members  make  their  living 
by  the  refineries.  Counting  these,  I  should  think  the  number  would  pretty 
nearly  reach  foj-ty  tJbOusand  men. 

Cuban — Dear  me!  I  had  no  idea  that  there  were  so  many  men  engaged  in 
the  refining  and  trades  belonging  to  it. 

Kraft — No,  indeed  ?  Surely  you  are  not  like  the  ordinary  people,  I  hope, 
that  think  sugar  comes  to  the  country  like  tea  or  coffee  quite  ready  to  use. 


6 

These  have  hardly  an  idea  of  the  immense  extent  of  the  busines?.  Perhaps 
you  yourself  have  no  real  idea  of  it.  Do  you  think  you  could  tell  me  how 
much  sugar  is  refined  every  year  in  this  country? 

Cuban — Well,  I  really  could  not.     How  much  is  it? 

Kraft — About  sixteen  Jiundred  millions  of  pounds.  You  Cubans  send  us  a 
good  deal  of  it.  You  would  be  surprised,  too,  at  some  of  the  other  figures  in 
this  business. 

Cuban — I  should  like  to  have  a  few. 

Kraft — Well,  here  are  a  few.     The  refining  business  takes  every  year  of  : 

Bone  Black 30,000.000  lbs. 

Nails ■- 18,000  kegs. 

Staples 60  tons. 

Slaves  and  hoops  for  barrels 30,000  car  loads. 

Coal 300,000  tons. 

So  you  see  there  are  an  immense  number  of  bone-black  makers  in  the  West, 
miners  in  Pennsylvania,  nail  and  staple  makers,  all  depending  on  the  refining 
business.  I  tell  you.  Sir,  the  people  who  buy  our  refined  sugar  and  think  that 
making  it  is  as  simple  as  plucking  an  apple  off  a  tree  make  a  tremendous  mis- 
take.    By  the  way,  sir,  I  beg  j'our  pardon,  aint  you  a  Cuban? 

Cuban — Yes,  I  am. 

Kraft — Then  you  must  have  seen  in  the  papers  what  j'our  countr3mien  are 
doing  to  take  the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  forty  thousand,  men  who  de- 
pend on  the  refining,  not  counting  their  wives  and  children,  who  would  cer- 
tainly amount  to  at  least  a  hundred  thousand  more. 

Cuban — How  can  you  make  out  that  we  are  trying  to  take  the  bread  out  of 
your  mouths?     We  don't  interfere  witli  you  nt  all. 

Kraft — You  don't,  don't  j'ou  ?  AVc  1,  I  guess  you  do.  Aint  you  Cubans 
trying  to  ruin  the  refiners  by  getting  lies  put  into  the  papers  about  them,  and 
so  setting  the  people  and  Congress  against  them,  so  as  to  get  j'our  sugars  in 
here  at  an  advantage  over  us,  and  thus  shut  up  our  works?  And  if  you  cripple 
the  refining,  don't  you  turn  us  into  the  street,  and  take  the  bread  out  of  our 
mouths?    To  be  sure  you  do! 

CuB.usr — But,  in  the  name  of  goodness  what  lies  have  we  been  telling  about 
you? 

Kraft — I  am  glad  you  are  so  innocent,  sir;  but  surely  you  must  have  henrd 
all  the  talk  there  has  been  for  th«  last  year  about  adulteration  and  frauds  on 
the  revenue  by  the  importers  and  refiners? 

Cuban — Ah,  you  mean  that,  do  yu?  Whj'-,  certainly  I  have.  It  seems 
■pretty  clear  there  has  been  something  of  the  sort.  You  must  know  that  it  is 
only  a  few  days  ago  since  the  papers  published  a  list  of  refiners  wh'>  had  been 
driven  out  of  the  business  by  the  competition  of  i\vi  men  who  adulterate  and 
commit  rr.iuds,  simply  because  they  would  not  share  in  their  practices,  and 
were  so  undersold. 

Kraft— Oil.  that  talk.  Why,  to  be  sure  Pve  heard  it.  And  if  you  will 
allow  me,  I'd  like  to  say  a  word  or  two  to  you  about  it.  But  before  I  say 
anything  about  that,  I  want  to  teJ  you  there  is  one  thing  theie  people  say  that 
really  makes  me  laugh. 

Cuban — What  is  that? 


Kraft— Why,  because  we  don't  want  you  to  take  the  bread  out  of  our 
mouths,  you  cry  out  in  the  newspapers:  {he  refiners  are  protertionists,  they  could 
not  exist  without p?-oto«w«;  do  away  witli  tliat,  and  we  will  give  you  sugar 
belter  and  cheaper  than  you  get  it  from  them. 

Cuban— Well,  is  not  that  the  truth?  Are  not  the  refiners  all  in  favor  of  a 
protective  tariff? 

LuDWiG— Stuff  and  nonsense!  If  the  government  could  do  without  the 
$35,000,000  it  gets  from  sugar,  and  abolished  the  duty  on  sugar  to-morrow,  the 
refiners  would  be  the  first  to  clap  their  hands  with  joy.  The?/  icant  no  protec- 
tion at  all.  But  if  there  must  be  a  duty,  they  don't  want  j-ou  Cubans  to  have 
an  advantage  of  from  50  to  100  per  cent,  over  the  American  refiners.  They 
bokUhat  the  American  has  a  right  to  ask  the  government  to  protect  theworking- 
man,  by  helping  to  employ  every  hand  and  arm  that  can  be  employed  in  the 
country.  They  ask  the  government  to  regulate  the  tariff  so  that  they  may 
bring  the  raw  sugars  here  and  give  conKtant  employment  to  that  labor.  They 
ask  the  government  not  to  give  you  such  an  advantage  as  would  make  it  im- 
possible for  them  to  import  the  low  grade  raw  sugars,  and  thus  destroy  the 
labor  of  40,000  men,  with  perhaps  100,000  women  and  cliildren  dependent 
upon  them.  If  we  Americans  asked  Spain  to  do  for  us  what  you  want  Amer- 
ica to  do  for  you,  Spain  and  you  would  laugh  in  our  faces,  and  you  would  be 
quite  right. 

Cuban — Well,  I  don't  know  so  mnch  about  that,  but  how  about  the  refiners 
who  have  been  driven  out  of  the  business  ? 

LuDwiG — I  showed  you  what  a  great  arm\'  of  working  people  depended  on  the 
refining  for  a  living.  AVe  soon  got  wind  of  what  was  up  and  what  you  were 
doing.  So  finding  out  what  your  game  was,  we  got  pretty  savage,  I  can  tell  you. 
Even  if  all  your  side  said  had  been  true,  it  would  be  bad  enough  for  a  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  people  to  lose  their  bread.  But  it  makes  the  matter  a  thou- 
sand times  wor.-e  when  you  Cubans,  and  some  soreheaded  importers  are  trying 
to  ruia  our  business  by  wholesale  Ij'ing. 

CuT?AN — I  should  like  to  see  you  prove  the  lying  part  of  it. 

LuDWiG— Well,  then,  I'll  begin  with  the  men  who  say  they  have  been  driven 
out  of  the  business  by  the  refiners  we  men  work  for.  "I  liave  been  in  this 
business  forty  j^ears,"  said  the  aged  Kraft,  with  a  proud  look,  "so  I  must 
have  been  working  at  it  a  year  or  two  before  you  got  your  first  lump  of 
sugar  to  suck,  and  a  good  many  before  j'ou  were  breeched,  and  I  am  going  to 
tell  you  something  perhaps  you  don't  know.  The  men  who  you  say  have  been 
driven  out  of  the  business,  drove  tliemselves  out  of  it." 

Old  Kraft  laid  particular  stress  on  this  last  sentence. 

"  Why,  good  gracious,  how  can  you  say  that?"  said  the  stranger. 

"  I  can  say  it,  because  I  know  it's  true.  Every  one  of  ihese  men,  if  he  told 
the  truth,  woidd  say  I  was  right.  And  I'll  show  you  why  I'm  right,  if  you'll  wait 
a  minute.  Suppose  I  was  a  refiner  instead  of  being  a  workman ;  I  make,  say. 
ten  per  cent,  on  my  outlay  the  first  five  j'cars.  If  I've  put  a  million  into  my 
business,  my  profits  at  the  end  of  five  years  are  $500,000.  If  I'm  prudent,  I 
look  out  for  bad  times,  and  I  make  that  what  they  call  a  reserve  for  my  sugar 
business,  but  not  for. any  other  bu^incss.  Tiien.  if  a  pinch  comes,  I  can  fall 
back  on  that  half  million,  and  it  will  feel  good  and  soft  to  fall  back  on. 


8 

"  But  "  —  said  the  stranger. 

"  Hold  on,  my  friend,"  said  the  bright  old  man,  warming  up,  "  I'll  let  you 
do  all  the  talking  you  like  in  a  minute  or  two,  and  you  never  [saw  a  church 
full  o'  people  sit  as  quiet  during  an  hour-and-a-half  sermon  as  I'll  sit  listening 
to  you.  Well,  I  was  saying  if  I  keep  my  half  million  of  profits  for  my  sugar 
business,  it  will  be  a  good  stand-by  if  I  get  into  a  corner.  But  if,  instead  of 
putting  it  where  I  can  reach  it  any  time  for  my  sugar  business,  I  venture  it  in 
a  silver  mine  in  Utah,  or  in  a  beautiful  bonanza  spec,  or  in  a  railway  that 
don't  yet  exist,  or  in  real  estate— if  I  go  on  making  profits  in  my  sugar 
business,  all  right  ;  but  if  I  make  losses,  all  wrong.  Then  I  want  my 
half  million,  don't  I?  Well,  if  the  silver  mine  don't  pay,  or  is  a 
fraud,  I  can  sing  'Wlioa,  Emma,'  but|  I  can't  get  that  money  to  save 
my  sugar  business.  Just  the  same,  if  the  lovely  bonanza,  or  the  railway,  or 
the  real  estate,  don't  turn  out  right  so  as  to  let  me  get  my  money  back  without 
a  loss.  And  if  I  get  advice  of  some  good-natured  broker  (who'll  help  me  in 
the  matter  for  a  trifle),  and  try  a  big  stroke  in  Wall  street  with  my  half  mil- 
lion, some  strict  church-going  Wall  street  sharks  may  be  around,  they  get  on 
the  scent,  they  give  me  and  my  stock  a  tumble,  and  the  next  Sunday  they  look 
extra  pious  with  my  half  million  in  their  pocket,  and  I'm  less  resigned  to  the 
will  of  the  Lord  without  it.  But  it's  gone  forever  from  my  sugar  business. 
Then  if  my  business  needs  that  half  million,  and  there's  a  hole  that  that 
half  million  ought  to  fill  up,  and  I  haven't  got  it,  and  I  can't  bon-ow  it, 
my  first  capital  has  got  to  go  into  that  hole,  and  I  go  into  it  too.  Have 
I  got  any  right  then  to  cry  out  that  I've  been  driven  out  of  the  business  ? 
Yes  ;  I've  got  a  right  to  say  I've  been  kicked  out  or  dumped  out,  if  I  like,  but 
then  I  must  say  I  kicked  OY  dumped  myself  out.  I've  no  right  to  say  that  the 
men  who  kept  their  business  profits  to  meet  the  strain  of  falling  markets  or 
any  other  hard  strain  drove  me  out.  If  I  say  they  did,  I  lie,  and  I  know  I  lie, 
and  that's  all  about  that. " 

"  That's  all  very  good,  my  worthy  old  friend,"  said  the  stranger,"  but  I 
have  never  seen  it  stated  anywhere  that  the  refiners  who  have  left  the  business 
these  last  years  were  forced  out  of  it  by  the  failure  of  any  outside  ventures 
such  as  you  talk  of." 

The  old  sugar  man  laughed. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  for  laughing,"  he  said  (stretching  out  his  hand  for 
a  well  colored  clay  pipe  which  lay  on  the  table,  leisurely  filling  it  with  Dur- 
ham, and  lighting  it);  "but  that  sounded  to  me  real  innocent.  Of  course  if  a 
man's  got  a  chance  of  making  people  think  he's  a  martyr,  he's  not  going  to 
prove  to  everybody  that  he's  an  ass.  Xot  likely!  It  is  more  consoling  to  a 
man  who  has  thrown  his  chances  away  to  hear  people  call  him  the  victim  of  a 
monopoly  than  to  see  them  point  at  him  as  a  fool. " 

"But,  do  you  think,"'  said  the  sallow  looking  man,  "that  you  could 
actually  point  out  any  such  men  among  the  refiners  who  have  gone  out  of 
business  within  the  last  seven  years?" 

"Yes,  I  certainly  could,"  replied  old  Kraft,  "and  they  could  not  deny  the 
truth  of  what  I  said.  But  there  would  be  a  better  way  of  proving  it  than 
through  me.  When  a  man  bursts  up,  he  chooses  an  assignee.  This  gentle- 
man can  tell  how  the  money  has  gone.     Inquire  in  New  York  who  have  been 


9 

the  assignees  for  the  'poai'  victims'  who  say  they  have  been  driven  out  of  the 
refining  business,  and  asli  them  what  drove  these  victims  out;  they  will  tell 
you  that  not  one  single  refiner  or  refining  company,  who  kept  pace  icith  modern 
improved  methods  of  refining,  and  supplied  the  public  with  what  the  public  rcanted, 
was  ever  driven  out  of  the  business  by  any  competition  whatever.  They  will 
tell  you  it  came  from  other  causes.  " 

"  But  how  could  honest  refiners  compete  with  dishonest  ones,  who  adulter- 
ated their  sugars  and  were  thus  able  to  undersell  the  honest  refiners  and  drive 
them  out  of  business  ? "  asked  the  olive-tinted  man. 

"  Have  you  any  more  time  to  spare  ? "  said  old  Ludwig.  ' 

"I'll  make  time,  for  you  talk  clear  and  straight,"  said  the  Cuban,  lighting 
another  cigar,  "and  although  I  may  think  you  are  in  the  wrong,  still  I  believe 
you  are  honest  and  want  to  hear  all  you  have  to  say." 

"Well  then,"  quoth  Ludwig,  "  I  can't  ride  two  horses  at  the  same  time 
with  one  saddle.  I'm  riding  '  Driven-out-of-the-Business '  at  present.  He's 
fearful  rickety,  and  your  party  have  made  him  a  very  strong  horse.  I'll  show 
you  what  a  darned  old  roarer  he  is— I'll  ride  him  'till  he'll  want  to  walk, 
walk  him  to  a  standstill,  and  then  you'll  see  him  lie  down.  Then  try  and  get 
him  on  his  legs  again  if  you  can.  Then  I'll  trot  out  his  stable  companion 
'  Adulteration '  (next  best  favorite  to  "Fraud  "  with  the  Cuban  party)  and  I'll 
show  you  the  worst  splintered,  spavined  old  knacker  you  ever  clapped 
eyes  on." 

The  serious,  sallow-faced  man  could  not  restrain  a  laugh  at  the  old  man's 
odd  way  of  saying  things.  "Go  on,"  said  the  Cuban,  "keep  your  seat  on 
'Driven-out-of-the-Business,'  but  you  must  let  me  use  the  whip,  and  then  take 
cafe  he  doesn't  throw  you  over  his  head!  " 

"He  never  had  a  kick  in  him,"  replied  old  Ludwig  ;  "but  you  let  me  go  on, 
and  if  you  want  to  know  anything  I  don't  touch,  you  just  say  so,  that's  all." 

"  Well,"  said  the  olive  man,  "do  you  know  any  that  have  left  the  busi- 
ness for  other  causes  V" 

"Yes  ;  I  know  at  least  one  big  firm  that's  gone  out  because  they  put  nearly 
all  the  money  they  had  in  bricks  and  mortar  and  machinery.  Then  they  had 
to  get  sugar  to  refine.  As  long  as  the  importers  would  let  them  have  raw 
sugar  to  refine  and  give  them  four  months'  credit,  they  had  time  to  sell  their 
refined  sugar,  get  their  money  for  it,  and  pay  the  importers  for  the  raw 
stuff.  So  long  things  went  all  right.  But  as  soon  as  the  importers  and  the 
banks  refused  to  give  them  credit,  they  couldn't  get  their  raw  sugars,  and  they 
were  like  a  tailor  without  cloth  :  he  might  have  needles,  thread,  shears,  etc., 
but  without  cloth  he  couldn't  make  any  clothes.  So  they  couldn'  refine  sugar 
without  the  sugar  to  refine,  and  out  they  went." 

"  But  if  they  were  paying  straight  along  why  wouldn't  the  importers  and 
banks  give  them  credit  ?"  asked  the  Cuban,  whose  curiosity  was  now  thor- 
oughly aroused. 

"Ah  !  now  we're  getting  to  the  milk  in  the  cocoanut,"  said  old  Kraft,  his 
bright  gray  eye  fixed  full  on  that  of  the  Cuban,  "  did  ever  you  hear  of  the 
monkey  that  set  a  trap  for  the  cat '?". 

"No,"  replied  the  olive  man. 

'  It's  a  short  story,"  said  Ludwig.     "  The  cat  had  been  in  the  house  many 

« 


10 

a  year,  and  the  monkey  was  a  new  comer.  He  got  jealous  because  Puss  was 
a  favorite.  So  he  thought  that  if  lie  killed  the  old  gray  parrot  the  cat  would 
be  blamed  for  it  and  drowned.  One  night,  therefore,  he  sneaked  up  to  Polly's 
cage  and  gently  put  in  his  paw.  No  sooner  had  it  touched  Polly  than  she 
seized  it  in  one  of  her  powerful  claws,  set  up  a  squawk  that  brought  the 
whole  house  in,  and  Mr  Monkey  was  knocked  on  the  bead.  He  had  to  go 
out  of  business  at  once.  In  fact,  he  drone  himself  out." 

"Now  let  us  liear  you  apply  your  fwble,"  said  the  Cuban. 

"  Nothing  simpler  in  the  world.  One  fine  morning  some  of  tlie  largest  of 
tbe  refiners  found  out  that  others,  jealous  of  them,  and  wishing  to  force  them 
to  the  wall,  had  been  around  spreading  the  report  that  they  were  on  the  point 
,of  bankruptc}-.  This  immediatelj'  affected  their  credit  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  importers  and  the  bankers  would  no  longer  take  their  notes.  As  the  refin- 
ers who  were  attacked  in  this  mean,  unmanly  fashion  were  men  of  ])lenty  of 
reserve  capital,  they  simply  had  to  fall  back  upon  that  and  suffered  very  little 
inconvenience.  'But  the  importers  and  bankers  said  to  themselves,  'Well,  if 
the  notes  of  the  strongest  firms  in  the  business  are  not  safe,  certainly  the  notes 
of  the  weakest  firms  must  be  a  good  deal  less  safe.  So  they  refused  right  out 
to  take  their  paper  at  all.  and  as  these  men  had  no  sufficient  reserve  to  fall 
back  upon,  they  went  to  the  wall  instead  of  the  men  the}'  wanted  to  ruin.  I 
was  the  old  story  of  the  biter  bit,  or  the  cat  and  the  monkey.  Who  drove 
these  men  out  of  the  business,  I  should  like  to  know  ?" 

"  Why,  if  that  is  the  case,  they  certainly  drove  themselves  out.  But  you  don't 
mean  to  te  1  me  that  there  are  men  in  New  York  wlio  tried  any  such  assassin- 
like  work  on  men  simply  engaged  in  lionorable  competition  with  them  ?"    • 

"  I  do  mean  to  say  so.  and  these  ver}'  men  are  quite  as  well  aware  of  it  as  I  am 
to  day,"  said  Ludwig,  knocking  the  ashes  out  of  his  pipe,  "and  the  importers  and 
bankers  to  whom  the  reports  were  made  are  well  aware  of  it,  and  are  glad  to- 
day to  have  the  business  of  the  intended  victims,  and  the  men  whom  they  wanted 
to  ruin  are  of  cour.se  well  aware  of  it.  Do  scoundrels  like  these  think  that 
when  they  have  missed  their  mark,  that  an}''  one  is  going  to  walk  about  hugging 
their  miserable  secret  for  them?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  All  that  kind  of  thing  is  well 
known  to  every  importer,  banker  and  refiner  in  New  York.  I  could  mention 
the  names  to  ynu,  and  the  men  I  would  and  will  name  dare  not  deny  the  truth 
of  what  I  say;  too  many  can  prove  it." 

Here  Ludwig  excused  himself  to  me  for  whispering  in  company,  leaned  for- 
ward, and  said  a  few  words  to  the  Cuban,  whose  eyes  at  once  looked  as  if  they 
would  start  out  of  tlii-ir  sockets. 

"  ]\Iy  God  !"  said  he  in  the  greatest  amazement,  "can  those  really  be  the  men 
you  were  speaking  of  ?" 

"  Those  are  the  very  men,"  said  Papa  Ludwig,  dryly.  "I  told  you  your  horse 
'  Driven-out-of-the  Bu^^iness'  was  only  a  poor  devil  of  a  thing  after  all.  If 
ever  these  men  want  to  mount  him  again  tell  them  to  stretch  a  good  stout  band 
under  him,  and  get  on  him  in  his  stall  for  their  own  fun  (for  after  all  thej-^must, 
amonrj  themmvcs.  think  these  charges  a  good  joke — really  good  liars  enjoy  one 
another),  but  don't  let  them  bring  him  out  in  public  and  put  a  man  on  him  that 
knows  what  a  horse  is;  if  they  do  ho  will  break  down  deader  than  the  devil, 
and  everybody  will  laugh  at  them" 


11 

Cuban — Does  that  end  all  you  have  to  say  on  this  point  ? 

LuDWiG — No;  I  have  kept  a  good  morsel  for  the  last,  so  that  these  soreheaded 
refiners  and  their  Cuban  backers  may  keep  the  taste  of  it  in  their  mouth.  I 
suppose  you  will  allow  that  I  have  a  right  to  buy  what  I  like  as  long  as  I  can 
and  will  pay  for  it  ? 

Cuban — Why,  certainly,  that  is  as  clear  as  dayliuht. 

LuDWiG — AVell,  si-ppose  I  am  a  bootmaker,  and  j^ou  want  a  pair  of  strong 
calf-skin  boots,  and  I  tell  you  I  will  make  you  nothing  but  a  pair  of  tine 
French  kid?     "What  would  you  do? 

Cuban — I  would  call  you  a  fool,  and  go  somewhere  else  to  buy  my  boots. 

LuDwiG — And  if  I  were  a  butcher,  and  you  wanted  beef  and  I  insisted  on 
your  taking  lamb,  what  would  you  do  then? 

Cuban — Why,  I'd  let  you  go  hang  yourself,  and  go  where  I  could  get  what 
I  wanted  for  my  mone}^ 

LuDWiG — Now,  suppose  I  were  a  refiner,  anrl  you  wanted  soft  sugars  at 
about  six  or  seven  cent-*  a  pound,  and  I  told  you  that  I  only  m;idc  Jtard  white 
sugars  at  eight  and  a  half  or  nine  cents  a  pound,  and  that  I  wouldn't  make  any 
otlier  what  woull  you  saj'  to  me? 

Cuban — I  would  tell  you  to  go  to  the  devil,  and  would  go  where  I  could 
get  the  yellow  sugars  I  wanted. 

LuDWiG — Well,  that  is  just  the  cas-»  with  some  of  these  soreheaded  refiners. 
Ten  years  ago,  sixty  per  cent,  of  all  the  sugar  consumed  in  the  conn  ry 
was  hard  wldte  sugar.  Since  then  the  jmhlic  has  felt  the  hard  times, 
and  wants  cheaper  sugars,  and  now  not  more  than  about  one-twellth  of 
all  the  sugar  consumed  is  hard  irliile ;  the  rest  runs  into  the  vaiious 
grades  of  cheaper  soft  sugars.  The  people  wanted  these  sugars  and 
would  liavG  them.  Sensible  refiners  at  once  got  ready  to  meet  thu  altered 
circumstances  and  demand  of  the  public.  They  altered  their  refineries, 
sometimes  at  a  cost  greater  than  that  of  the  original  building,  and  they  pro- 
duced just  what  the  people  wanted.  Some  of  the  present  soreheads  paid  no 
attention  to  what  the  people  wanted ;  thej'  went  on  producing  nothing  but 
hard  white  sugars.  As  the  consumption  of  these  fell  off  fifty  per  cent.,  these 
stubborn  gentlemen  were  m  ithout  a  market  for  a  large  share  of  the  sugar  they 
were  producing,  and  they  had  to  sell  it  at  a  loss.  It  was  simply  a  matter  of 
time  how  long  they  could  stand  it.  At  last  they  had  to  go  out  of  business, 
just  like  the  bootmaker  or  the  butcher  would,  of  whom  I  spoke  a  minnte  ago. 
And  now  ])ecause  their  own  fault  has  landed  Ihem  where  they  are,  the}^  raise 
a  cry  nnd  say  they  have  been  driven  out  of  the  business.  So  they  have,  but 
they  have  been  driven  out  hi/  themselve.'^. 

Now  if  you  like  we'll  trot  out  the  nag  'Adulteration.' 

"  I  should  like  to  go  on,"  said  the  Cuban,  "  but  ni}'  time  is  up  now,  and  I 
must  go  and  see  my  friend  the  edilo-  of  the  'Drone.'  I'll  hear  what  he  has  to 
say  in  answer  to  wh;it  you  have  said  here  to-night." 

"You  need  not  give  yourself  any  trouble  with  him,"  said  Papa  Ludwig;  "he 
knows  as  much  aboit  the  sugar  question  as  a  cow  does  about  ironing  shirt 
bosoms.  That  poor  devil  only  prints  what  he  is  paid  for.  However,  ask  him 
if  you  lik",  and  when  you're  passing  by,  if  you  feel  like  talking  sugar,  we'll  go 
at  it  again." 


ADULTERATION. 


We  saw  nothing  of  our  Cuban  friend  for  several  days,  and  were  about  giv- 
ing him  up,  when  one  Thursday  evening,  about  the  same  time,  he  stopped  at 
the  door. 

"Hallo  !"  said  Papa  Ludwig,  in  his  blunt  way,  "here  we  are  again." 

"Yes,"  said  the  Cuban  ;  "and  since  we  last  saw  each  other  I  have  been 
talking  to  a  well-informed  friend  who  tells  me  that  many  refiners  have  gone 
out  of  the  business  because  they  would  not  adulterate  their  sugars,  and  they 
could  not  sell  as  low  as  those  who  did,  and,  therefore,  could  not  compete  with 
them.  Besides  this,  he  is  informed  that  there  are  great  frauds  committed  in 
the  weighing  and  sampling  of  sugars,  and  thus  the  dishonest  refiners  are  able 
to  undersell  the  honest  ones." 

"  And  this  is  one  of  the  reasons,  is  it,"  said  Ludwig  slyly,  "why  you  Cubans 
and  the  discontented  importers  want  to  protect  the  government  ?" 

"  Certainly ;  the  revenue  will  be  more  easily  and  surely  collected  by  what  we 
propose,  and  the  people  will  get  unadulterated  sugars  cheaper  than  they  can 
now." 

"Why,  really,"  said  the  old  man,  "it  is  almost  too  kind  of  the  Cuban 
planters  and  their  friends  to  protect  the  American  government  and  people 
like  this.  Only,  I  never  heard  the  government  or  the  jDeople  say  they  wanted 
to  be  protected.  I  suppose  it  is  the  stupid  notion  they've  got  that  they  are 
smart  enough  to  take  care  of  their  own  business,  that  has  prevented  them 
from  asking  the  Cubans  to  come  here,  and  collect  the  sugar  duty.  Well,  it  is 
real  kind  of  the  Cubans  all  the  same.  And  I  suppose  the  Cubans  and  their 
friends  don't  expect  to  make  any  money  by  the  job,  do  they  ?" 

The  Cuban  passed  this  cutting  little  speech  by  unnoticed,  but  lighted  a 
cigarette,  and  said,  "  Well,  my  friend,  you  tell  me  you  have  been  in  the  re- 
fining work  forty  years,  now  I  should  like  to  hear  what  you  have  to  saj^  about 
the  adulteration  of  sugars." 

"  Certainly,  certainly,"  said  Ludwig,  lighting  his  pipe  ;  "  if  you  people  are 
going  to  protect  Americans  against  adulteration,  I've  no  doubt  the  Americans 
would  like  to  know  what  this  adulteration  is,  and  I  say  the  whole  story  is  a 
damned  lie  from  beginning  to  end." 

[Unfortunately  the  old  man  let  slip  this  awkward  word,  but  some  little  allow- 
ance must  be  made  for  his  feelings,  which  are  easily  roused  on  this  point.] 

"  Have  these  men  told  you  any  of  the  ways  in  which  they  say  sugar  is  adul- 
terated ? " 

CuB.^VN — Yes  ;  they  say  it  is  adulterated  with  gluco-e  and  tin.  They  main- 
tain that  glucose,  taken  in  any  considerable  quantities,  is  bad  for  the  kidneys, 
and  of  course  tin  must  be  destructive  to  the  stomach. 

Ludwig — Well,  the  ground  is  laid  out  clear  in  what  you  say,  so  for  a  minute 


13 

or  two  we  can  put  the  glucose  and  tin  on  the  shelf,  and  I'll  take  them  down 
and  handle  them  for  you  when  the  time  comes.  Just  now  I  want  to  say  a 
word  about  the  refiners  who  say  they  would  not  adulterate,  and  have  gone  out 
and  left  the  field  to  the  men  who  do  adulterate. 

CrrBAN — Well,  what  have  you  got  to  say  about  them? 

LuDWiG — Let  me  ask  you;  do  you  think  that  men  with  large  sums  of  money 
in  the  sugar  refining  would  have  gone  out  of  the  business,  and  lost  their  money 
without  trying  to  save  themselves  by  exposing  the  adulterators  ?  Do  they 
want  the  public  to  believe  that  all  the  refiners  at  present  in  business  are  rotnies 
and  that  they  have  quietly  let  the  rogues  ruin  them,  and  had  no  way  of  pre- 
venting it  ? 

Cuban — How  could  they  have  prevented  it  ? 

LuDwiG — By  exposing  the  adulteration,  to  be  sure.  Do  you  think  I  would 
let  any  man  run  me  out  of  business  by  selling  an  adulterated  article  cheaper 
than  I  sold  my  unadulterated  one  ?  Not  much !  Would  you  ?  If  you  did 
you  must  allow  me  to  say  you  would  be  a  fool,  that  is  all.  And  you  can  bet 
on  it,  these  refiners  were  not  so  foolish  as  all  that !  If  you  want  to  know  how 
they  could  find  out  whether  the  sugars  were  adulterated  or  not,  I  say  that 
there's  the  Board  of  Health  expressly  there  for  such  purposes.  Didn't  they  catch 
the  swill-milk  men?  And  couldn't  they  catch  the  sugar  refiners  quite  as  easily? 
Why  do  men  talk  such  nonsense  ?  What  does  the  government  do  with  the 
export  sugar  for  which  the  refiners  get  the  drawback  {i.  e.  the  import  duty  paid 
on  the  raw  article)  ?  Why  it  simply  takes  sample  of  all  the  sugar  exported, 
and  if  it  thought  the  refiners  were  selling  anything  but  sugar  made  (as  the  law 
says,  and  as  they  are  obliged  to  swear)  "  icholly  from  imported  raw  sugars 
which  have  paid  duty,"  it  would  just  get  them  analyzed,  and  woe  betide  the 
refiner  who  was  caught  taking  the  drawback  for  adulterated  sugar  ! 

Cuban— Well,  that's  good  as  far  as  the  exported  sugar  goes,  but  how  about 
the  sugar  consumed  in  the  country  ? 

LuDWiG — All  I've  got  to  say  is  this  :  There  is  no  use  higgle-haggling  about 
the  matter.  Let  these  fellows  either  prove  the  adulteration  or  shut  up.  They 
can  do  that  at  once  if  it  exists.  Let  them  send  samples  to  the  Board  of  Health ; 
they  will  be  analyzed.  If  there  is  any  adulteration  the  Board  of  Health  will 
be  down  on  the  refiners  just  as  they  were  on  the  swill-milk  men.  The  Board 
of  Health  is  there  to  protect  the  public  health.  That's  the  way  to  talk.  Be- 
sides, the  refiners  have  sworn  and  are  ready  to  swear  any  day  that  they  do  not 
adulterate  their  sugars.  They  put  a  warranty  in  each  barrel  they  send  out. 
We  men  know  they  tell  the  truth,  because  we  make  the  sugar,  but,  Heavens  ! 
how  much  more  proof  do  you  people  want? 

Cuban — Have  you  any  other  proof  of  what  you  say  ? 

LuDwiG— Certainly  ;  why  here's  what  Professor  Chandler,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Health,  says— of  course  you  know  that  he 
is  one  of  the  greatest  chemists  in  the  country^:  "The  adulteration  of 
refined  sugar  and  syrup  has  often  been  alleged.  The  idea  is  veiy  preva- 
lent that  marble-dust  is  added  to  powdered  sugar,  and  that  poisonous 
metals  are  used  in  the  refineries  and  left  in  the  sugars.  Ihere  is  na  foundation 
whatever  for  this  belief.  The  writer  has  examined  a  great  number  and  variety 
of  sugars  sold  at  retail  in  New  York,  and  Jias  never  found  an  adulterated  or 


14 

umchole^ome  specimen.  A  similar  idea  is  entertained  with  regard  to  syrup.  The 
only  foundation  for  this  is  the  fact  that  (1)  one  or  two  liouses  prepare  a  syrup 
by  combining  sugar-house  molasses  with  glucose  syrup  prepared  from  Indian 
corn,  which  is  entirehj  harmless;  and  (2)  some  refiners  have  used  minnts 
quantities  of  a  tin  salt  and  free  acid  to  improve  the  color  of  syrup,  but  the 
quantities  employed  were  too  small  to  gite  any  cause  for  alarm.  (3)  The  fact 
that  the  coffee  sugars  and  yellow  sugars  and  the  syrup  often  produce  an  inky 
color  with  tea  has  been  supposed  by  many  to  indicate  adulieration.  But  this 
is  due  to  the  prcieuce  of  a  very  small  quantity  of  iron,  which  is  dissolved  by 
the  sugar  solutions  from  the  tanks,  blow-ups  and  tubes  of  the  factory  or 
refinery,  and  is  entirely  tinoljectionaUe,  perhups  usejnl." 

Well  now,  one  would  think  that  ougiit  to  be  enough  to  shut  the  mouths  of 
these  slanderers.  Why  the  sugars  are  so  g'toci,  and  their  color  is  so  clear  and 
fine,  that  even  the  grocers  don't  seem  to  be  able  to  get  anything  to  adulterate 
them  with  before  they  retail  tlicm. 

Cuban — That  evidence  is  very  strong,  indeed  it  is  quite  striking.     I  must 
say  I  thought  there  was  more  ground  for  these  charges. 
LuDWiG— Well,  I  should  think  it  w.is  striking. 

Cuban— So  far  so  good  ;  but  how  about  the  adulteration  of  sugars  with 
glucose  ? 

LuDwiG — Just  so.  That's  the  word  these  men  have  been  trying  to  frighten 
the  people  with.  I  could  terrify  them  if  I  said  that  sugar  was  ad ul  crated  with 
hokey-iiokey-winkey-wum.  You  can  frighten  them  with  anything.  The  pub- 
lic in  such  matters  is  nothing  but  a  great  big  baby.  This  terrib  e  glucose  is 
simply  a  sweet  extract  made  from  corn  or  potatoes  or  anything  that  contains  it, 
just  as  corn  starch  is,  or  sago,  or  maccaroni  or  vermicelli.  It  is  just  as  harm- 
less as  flour  or  potatoes,  or  one  of  my  old  woman's  curtain  lectures  about  lager 
and  klimmel.  The  only  question  dbout  gluco.se,  as  far  as  sugar  goes,  is  one  of  • 
fact.  Do  the  refiners  use  it  in  making  their  sugars  or  do  they  not  ?  They  say 
they  do  not.  They  are  ready  to  swear  they  do  not.  They  are,  as  I  said,  sending 
out  with  every  barrel  of  their  sugars  a  warranty  that  no  adulterating  substance 
whatever  is  used  in  refining  them.  And  I  should  think  this  is  enough  against 
the  unsupported  sayso  of  men  whose  known  and  avowed  object  is  to  rum  the 
refiners  and  throw  all  us  men  out  of  work. 

Cuban — That  is  a  fair,  square  argument  ;  but,  now  then,  how  about  the 
adulteration  of  refined  sugars  with  tin  ? 

LuDwiG — Ha  !  ha  !  ha  !  So  you've  got  a  tin-lined  stomach,  have  you  ?  How 
does  it  feel  ?  A  wee  bit  cold,  doesn't  it,  when  it's  freezing  ?  It  must  work  a. 
little  stiff  too,  when  you  stoop  to  tie  your  shoes?  Ha,  ha  !  But  then  it  must  be 
good  another  way.  You  won't  Lave  any  more  gripes.  I  suppose  you  believers 
in  this  tin  business  don't  ask  one  another  any  longer,  how's  your  health  ?  but, 
'Well,  old  boy.  how's  your  kettle,  or,  how's  your  frying-pan  ?" 

Cuban — The  joke  is  good  enough,  but  I've  read  the  evidence  given  before 
the  Sub-Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  by  a  gentleman  who  said  mott  dis- 
tinctly that  tin  is  used  to  adulterate  sugar. 

LcDwiG — Well,  perhaps  he  owns  the  tin  process,  and  he  certainly  ought  to 
know  whether  his  firm  used  tin  or  not.  But  then  the  question  is,  how  they 
and  other  refiners  used  it,  and  in   what  quantities  and  for  what  purpose.     I 


15 

must  say  I  was  really  astonished  at  his  evidence.  It  reads  just  as  if  tin  was 
put  into  suL:ar  to  make  it  weigh  more.  And  I  have  no  doubt  a  good  many 
innocent  people  really  think  that  is  so.  But  just  listen  to  me  for  a  minute  and . 
you'll  see  liow  nicely  we  will  take  the  tin  coating  off  his  stomach,  and  the  tin 
oil"  his  brain,  too,  for  his  evidence  shows  lie's  got  tin  on  the  brain.  Just  for 
a  joke  I  asked  Dr.  Pe^tel,  round  the  corner,  how  he'd  call  the  disease  if  a  man's 
brain  Avas  inflamed  with  tin.  He  said  it  would  be  called  this  [Ludwig  hands 
the  Cuban  a  slip  of  papei]. 

Cuban — (reading)  Cerebral  Cansiteritls — That  is  a  prettj^  good  name  for  the 
disease  too.  Well,  I  suppose  if  he  has  a  tin  stomach  and  tin  on  the  brain,  one 
must  at  least  allow  that  he  is  always  on  his  metal. 

LuDwiG— (who  does  not  sec  the  joke)  Well,  there  is  only  just  this  little 
difficulty  about  adulterating  sugar  with  tin,  that  tin  costs  about  three  times  as 
i.nich  per  pound  as  ordinary  refined  sugar,  and  more  than  twice  as  mucli  as  the 
best  hard  white  refined  sugar.  Do  you  know  what  would  be  the  case  if  su^ar 
was  adulterated  with  tin  ? 

CuB.^N— What  ? 

Ludwig— Wiiy  the  metal  brokers  would  at  once  buy  up  every  pound  of  re- 
fined sugar  in  the  market,  and  get  the  tin  out  of  it.  They  would  get  three 
time.^  as  much  per  pound  as  they  were  paying  for  it.  They  would  hu"-  the 
life  out  of  the  refiners  from  sheer  gratitude,  and  when  the  refiners  had  bought 
tin  at  34  cents  a  pound,  and  sold  it  long  enough  at  seven  or  eight  cents  in  their 
sugar,  they'd  cry  Whoa  !  Emma!  make  a  bow  to  the  public,  and  go  into  the 
metal  business  themselves  to  get  back  their  money.  Oh !  yes,  this  tin  busi- 
ness would  be  mighty  profitable  ! 

(Here  the  Cuban  had  to  laugh  in  .spite  of  himself.  The  argument  was  simply 
unanswerable,  and  the  way  it  was  put  irresistible.) 

Cuban — But  seriously,  don't  the  refiners  use  tin  in  some  way  in  their 
sugars  ? 

Ludwig— Certamly  not  ;  nor  ever  did  in  their  sugars.  Some  years  ago,  as 
you  read  in  Chandler's  statement,  they  used  a  very  rainnte  and  harmless  quan- 
tity of  a  salt  of  tin  to  clear  syrup  and  give  it  that  very  light  color  the  people 
liked  so  much,  but  it  was  never  used  at  all  in  the  refining  of  sugars.  And  I 
know  of  my  own  knowledge,  that  for  the  last  ten  or  eleven  years  it  hasn't 
been  used  even  for  clearing  syrup  in  the  biggest  refineries  in  this  country. 
Tanners  use  a  certain  quantity  of  vitriol  in  tanning  their  leather.  That  doesn't 
make  me  afraid  that  the  tanned  leather  will  burn  my  feet  off.  People  actually 
take  chemical  forms  of  iron  to  improve  the  blood.  That  does  not  make  them 
afraid  that  some  fine  morning  they'll  wake  up  and  find  themselves  turned  into 
gas  mains.  This  charge,  besides  being  false,  as  far  as  sugar  is  concerned,  is 
altogether  too  ridiculous.  People  are  not  all  idiots,  and  he  seemed  to  forget 
this. 

Cuban— I  suppose  that's  all  you  have  to  say  about  the  adulteration  ques- 
tion, isn't  it? 

Ludwig— Your  Cuban  people  who  pull  the  wires,  and  make  these  men  in 
New  York  talk,  got  them  to  tell  the  people  of  the  United  States  that  thej 
were  being  cheated  wnd  poisoned  by  the  adulteration  of  sugars.  Consequently 
the  Cubans  kindly  offered  pure,  unadulterated  sugaTS— if  the  government  would 


16 

make  the  duty  on  all  sugars  up  to  No.  Id,  two  and  a  Imlf  cents  a  pound.  By  tMs  you 
Cubans  and  your  party  here  said  you  were  going  to  save  the  stomachs  of  the 
people.  We  will  see  later  what  is  hidden  under  this  great  kindness  that  no- 
body wants.  But  you  must  let  me  say  this.  Your  reason  for  making  the  offer 
was  that  the  refiners'  sugars  are  adulterated.  Let  me  talk  plain.  I  have 
proved  this  charge  of  adulteration  to  be  a  point  blank  lie.  I  say  now  the  men 
who  made  that  charge  against  the  great  refiners,  witJiout  their  names  (in  what- 
ever way  they  got  it  into  the  press),  knew  that  charge  was  a  lie  when  they 
made  it:  I  say  they  framed  that  lie  so  as  to  influence  the  American  people 
and  through  them  the  United  States'  Congress.  I  have  proved  that  charge  to 
be  a  lie.  When  you  dig  the  foundation  from  under  a  building,  the  building 
comes  down.  Your  adulteration  foundation  is  gone,  and  the  building  on  it, 
the  tin  stomach  affair,  and  the  glucose  nonsense,  is  smashed  to  pieces.  So  as 
the  people  were  neither  being  cheated  nor  poisoned,  and  your  Cuban  party 
knew  this,  when  the  lie  was  set  going,  this  could  not  have  been  the  reason  of 
your  most  unselfish,  generous  offer.  I  think  before  we  finish  we  shall  find  out 
what  that  reason  is.  When  the  people  of  the  United  States  come  to  know  the 
real  reason,  I  don't  think  you'll  find  them  in  quite  so  good  a  temper  with  your 
Cuban  party  as  they  would  like;  however  time  will  tell. 

The'Cuban  muttered  a  few  words  in  Spanish,  lighted  a  cigarette,  bade  Lud- 
wig  a  curt  good  night,  and  was  soon  out  of  sight. 


THE  GREAT  FRAUD  QUESTI0>4. 


Kraft  was  afraid  that  his  Cuban  friend  would  not  come  any  more.  And,  in- 
deed, more  than  a  week  elapsed  from  the  time  of  their  last  conversation  before 
he  again  put  in  an  appearance.  At  last  he  came  one  evening  earlier  than  usual, 
and,  after  a  pleasant  greeting,  said  to  Kraft. 

Cuban — I  must  say  I  was  a  good  deal  annoyed  when  I  went,  in  New  York, 
to  the  men  who  had  talked  so  much  about  adulteration  tome,  to  find  that  they 
could  not  prove  what  they  said.  I  mentioned  the  names  of  all  the  great  sugar 
refining  firms,  one  after  the  other,  and  asked  them  whether  they  dared  accuse 
either  of  those  firms  nngly  and  !q)ecifically  with  adulterating  their  sugars.  This 
they  would  not  do,  but  still  said  that  they  were  sure  adulteration  must  be  car- 
ried on.     Of  cour  e  charges  like  that  amount  to  nothing. 

LuDwiG — Then  don't  you  think  the  men  who  are  constantly  making  them  in 
the  newspapers,  under  such  names  as  "Sugar,"  "Treacle,"  "Molasses"  and 
what  not,  are  a  pack  of  arrant  cowards  and  tricky  knaves  ? 

CuB.xN — Yes,  I  do  !  but  really  the  question  of  adulteration  doesn't  concern 
us  ;  it  is  a  family  fight. 

LuDWiG— That's  pretty  good  !  It  doesn't  concern  you.  Oh,  yes,  it  docs. 
Your  jiarty  are  l)acking  up  the  ciy  as  hard  as  they  can  for  their  own  ends, 
which  we  talked  over  the  last  time  you  were  here.  Any  cry,  true  or  lalse,  is 
good  enough  for  them  if  it  only  serves  their  purpose.  However,  I  think  I 
settled  the  charge  itself  with  you  last  time,  and  I  need  not  say  anything  more 
about  it.  But  only  just  let  them  come  into  the  daylight  like  men,  and  make 
their  charges  in  tlieirown  name,  against  any  one— any  number  of  refiners  hy 
name — and  they'll  soon  find  out  to  their  cost  whether  or  not  their  refined  sugars 
are  adulterated. 

Cur..\N — Well,  enough  about  that.  Now  comes  perhaps  the  biggest  question 
of  Ihe  lot,  namely  that  of  Fraud.  You  know  that  it  was  stated  in  evidence 
that  great  frauds  were  committed  upon  the  Treasury  in  the  imi)ortanMn  of 
raw  suirars.  This  was  stated  by  Cuban  planters  and  their  agenl.<,  who  said 
that  as  l)ng  as  the  present  system  of  levying  duty  according  to  the  color  of 
sugars  existed,  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  government  to  pmperly  collect 
the  duty  upon  them.  They  say  that  it  would  end  the  <lilficulty  if  the  govern- 
ment would  tax  all  sugars  (up  to  grade  No.  Ifi)  at  the  uniform  rate  of  ticoanda 
7ialfcenis  per  pound.  Then  the  customs  officers  would  simply  have  to  weigh 
the  sugar,  and  there  would  be  an  end  of  die  dillicu  ty. 

LcDWiG— If,  as  you  say,  this  is  the  biggest  que-tion  of  the  lot  (althoiigh  I 
don't  think  so  mysc-lf),  we  will  set  about  it  so  as  not  to  leave  one  bit  cf  it  un- 
touched. When  \ou  see  the  hands  of  a  watch  move,  and  y  u  want  to  know 
what  moves  them.  }ou  take  the  watch  to  pieces,  bit  by  bit  ;  you  .«ee  how  one 
wheel  acts  on  another,  how  the  chain  and  the  main-spring  act  on  the  wheels. 


18 

and  at  last  you  come  to  a  part  of  the  works,  and  you  can  say  "  this  is  what 
moves  those  hands."  That  is  how  we  will  set  about  this  fraud  question.  This 
gentleman  here  says  he  is  going  to  have  our  talk  printed.  Well,  when  it  is  I 
want  to  hear  as  soon  as  possible  from  the  croakers  who  have  been  crying  fraud, 
fraud  ! 

Cuban — Your  idea  is  a  good  one.     Where  would  you  begin. 

LuDWiG — I  would  first  clear  the  ground,  so  as  to  know  exactly  what  the 
fight  was  going  to  turn  upon.  If  these  people  that  cry  fraud  mean  frauds  that 
may  have  taken  place  years  ago,  I  say  there  is  no  use  talking  about  them  now. 
If  necessary,  I  am  able  to  take  that  up  too.  If  these  men  are  aware  of  ^as^ 
frauds,  there  is  nothing  more  simple  than  to  give  their  evidence  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  ;  if  that  evidence  is  true,  Mr.  Sherman  will  make  the  de- 
frauders  dance  to  their  music.  It  is  not  too  late  for  that  kind  of  sport.  But 
if  they  want  to  change  the  present  tariff,  because  of  frauds  which  they  say  it 
is  impossible  or  very  difficult  for  the  government  to  detect,  they  must  not  go 
back  five,  ten  or  twenty  years  to  look  for  frauds;  they  must  prove  them  to  be 
actual,  present  frauds,  from  which  the  United  States  Treasury  is  now  suffering, 
and  they  must  make  out  a  clear  case  that  under  the  '[/resent  system  it  is  next  to 
impossible  or  highly  difficult  for  the  government  to  detect  or  to  prevent  these 
frauds.  That's  the  real  business-like  way  of  setting  to  work,  and  I  should 
like  to  hear  what  your  side  have  to  say  about  it. 

Cuban — They  say  that  the  present  system  of  taxing  sugars  renders  it  easy 
for  importers  and  for  those  refiners  who  import  ^some  of  their  own  sugars  ta 
defraud  the  revenue. 

LuDWiG — The  people  who  say  this  are  the  sorehead  refiners  (the  poor,  dear 
driven-out-of-the-bnsiness  men)  and  some  importers  who  are  agents  for  Cuban 
houses.  Let  me  ask  you  a  fair  question.  Do  you  think  that  if  the  refiners 
had  never  imported  a  cargo  of  sugar  themselves  directly,  but  had  bought  all  tlieir 
sugars  from  these  middlemen  or  importers,  you  would  ever  have  heard  a  word 
about  fraud  from  any  importer  in  New  York  ? 

Cuban — No,  I  do  not  think  we  should. 

LuDWiG — You  bear  that  question  I  have  just  asked  you  in  your  mind.  I 
shall  have  something  to  say  about  that  by-and-by.  That  is  one  of  the  springs 
of  the  watch,  the  hands  of  which  point  to  the  only  two  figures  on  the  face — 
refiners  and  fraud.  Your  party  made  the  watch,  and  shouted  out  to  the  pub- 
lic to  come  and  take  their  sugar  time  from  it.  I'm  going  to  pull  it  to  pieces 
for  you,  and  show  you  the  springs.  Now  if  frauds  are  committed,  they  can't 
commit  themselves,  like  the  drunken  police  justice  did,  they  must  be  com- 
mitted by  some  person  or  persons.  Can  your  party  lay  their  hand  on  any  re- 
finer or  refiners  and  say:  "  On  such  a  day  this  man  or  these  men  defrauded 
the  government  in  the  duty  paid  on  such  a  cargo,  by  such  a  vessel,  in  such 
and  such  a  way  ?  " 

Cuban — No  they  don't  pretend  exactly  to  do  that,  but  they  do  say  that  the 
government  can  be,  and  is,  defrauded  in  the  sampling  and  weighing  of  sugars. 

LuDwiG — Of  course  that  can  only  happen  in  the  case  of  sugars  imported  by 
the  refiners  whom  they  attack  ;  there  can't  be  any  chance  of  .'  uch  frauds  in 
the  case  of  the  sugars  these  men  import  themselves. 

Cuban — I  suppose  it  can  and  doe  5  happen  in  the  case  of  all  imported  sugars. 


19 

Lttdwig — Then  these  men  must  be  as  guilty  as  the  men  they  accuse.  And 
<lo  you  think  I  or  any  other  man  am  simple  enough  to  believe  the  govern- 
ment is  going  to  let  that  happen  and  not  find  it  out  V  Let  us  take  the  samp- 
ling first. 

Cuban — Well,  it  is  certainly  difficult  to  tell  exactly  what  a  cargo  of  sugars 
is  by  sampling,  especially  in  hogsheads.  Sometimes  there  are  three  different 
colors  in  one  hogshead,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  sample  it  so  as  to  get  the 
average  color. 

LuDVv^iG — Well,  even  supposing  it  is  difficult,  the  government  doesn't 
leave  the  sampling  to  the  refiners  The  government  doesn't  complain  about 
the  difficulty.  It  gets  ^35,000,000  a  year  out  of  sugar  duties,  and  can  well 
afford  to  pay  men  well  posted  in  Mie  business  to  do  the  work.  But  I  deny 
that  it  is  anything  like  as  difficult  as  your  party  state.  I  can  find  plenty  of 
men  in  the  sugar  business  who  can  tell  the  duty  a  sugar  ought  to  pay,  by  look- 
ing at  an  invoice  very  nearly  as  well  as  the  government  samplers  with  all  the 
trouble  they  take.     So  it  can't  be  so  difficult  a  job  after  all. 

Cuban — But  the  sampler  can  take  foots  (the  bottom  sugar  in  a  hogshead, 
discolored  by  the  infiltration  of  the  syrup  from  the  top  and  middle  of  the  hogs- 
Jiead)  and  give  that  as  the  average  sample  of  the  cargo. 

LuDWiG — Certainly  ;  isn't  it  beautifully  simple.  And  it  is  just  as  beautifully 
simple  that  one-tenth  of  the  whole  cargo  must  remain  in  the  charge  of  the 
government  just  as  long  as  the  government  chooses,  and  that  it  can  be  sam- 
pled over  and  over  again  at  any  time  the  government  thinks  proper.  It  is 
just  as  beautifully  simple  that  the  samples  have  to  be  exposed  in  a  public  room 
in  the  Custom  House,  open  to  every  importer  and  merchant  in  the  city  ;  that 
the  classification  of  the  sugar  has  to  be  placed  upon  it  with  the  date  of 
importation,  the  name  of  the  vessel,  name  of  the  consignee,  and  the  name  of  the 
sampler,  etc.  Do  you  think  that  with  the  sampler's  classification  of  that  sugar 
under  their  eyes,  and  one-tenth  of  the  cargo  open  to  the  authorities  to  re-sample, 
they  could  not  at  once  detect  fraud  in  the  sampler  ?    The  idea  is  absurd. 

Cuban — Why  is  it  absurd  ? 

LuDWiG — You  were  reading  to  me  the  evidence  given  before  the  Sub- 
Committee.  If  you  have  read  the  sworn  evidence  of  the  Appraiser  of  the 
Port  of  New  York  you  need  not  have  asked  your  question.  Why,  the  sampler 
is  under  examiners  who  scrutinize  his  sampling  ;  his  name  is  put  in  the  public 
room  (open  to  everybody)  on  every  sugar  he  has  sampled.  Competition  is  too 
keen  in  the  business  for  one  merchant  or  importer  to  allow  another  to  get  an 
unfair  advantage  of  him.  Any  sampler  who  did  what  you  suppose  could  not 
hold  his  position  a  week.  Besides,  what  would  be  the  object  of  his  sampling 
wrong  ? 

Cuban — He  might  be  bribed. 

LuDwiG — Oh,  yes,  very  likely.  As  the  samplers  are  continually  changed 
round,  the  bribing  importer  or  refiuer  would  have  to  stand  in  with  all  the  sam- 
plers. Kow  these  men  known  that  competing  and  hostile  firms,  like  those  of 
your  party  would  pay  ten  times  as  much  for  the  information  of  such  bribery 
as  any  importer  or  refiner  would  give  them  to  undersample  sugar.  Do  you 
imagine  that,  outside  the  question  of  personal  honor,  any  great  firm,  with  mil- 
lions invested  in  the  business  are  going  to  be  such  geese  as  to  put  themselves 


20 

into  the  power  of  a  mere  sampler  ?  The  idea  is  altogether  too  tlain.  Anyone 
that  wants  to  convince  himself  of  the  nonsense  of  these  statements  has 
only  to  read  Silas  B.  Butcher's  sworn  testimony  before  the  Sub-Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means.  If  that  v.-on't  settle  the  question  for  him,  nothing  in  the 
world  will.     Have  you  read  it  ? 

Cuban — Not  all. 

LuDwiG — Then  let  me  recommend  you  to  read  it  carefully,  and  you  will  see 
what  a  tough  job  any  importer  or  refiner  would  have  who  tried  to  defrandthe 
revenue  in  the  sampling.     Here  are  specimens  of  the  testimony. 

Chairman— Have  yon  thought  it  strange  that  notwithstanding  these  public  statements  of 
fraud,  &c.,  that  your  attention  had  not  been  called,  you  being  the  official  in  charge  of  sugar,  to 
gpecific  cases  ? 

Mr.  DuTCHER— Yes,  sir.  I  have  thought  it  strange,  because  I  thought  that  if  there  was  any 
large  measure  of  fraud,  there  would  be  specific  cases  they  would  call  to  attt-ntion. 

Chairman— What  foundation  is  there  for  these  constant  and  frequent  accusations  involving 
the  reputation  of  pretty  much  all  the  sugar  importation  interest  of  New  York  ? 

Mr.  DuTCUER— There  is  none. 

Q.  Do  you  feel  that  you  are  in  a  position  officially  to  judge  as  to  the  evasions  of  the  tariff 
whether  there  is  any  more  of  it  in  sugars  than  in  anything  else  ? 

A.  I  don't  believe  there  is. 

Q.  Do  you  think  there  is  any  difference  between  the  difficulties  of  ascertaining  foreign  valua- 
tions which  you  have  upon  gloves  and  upon  silks  and  upon  articles  that  pay  an  ad  valorem  duty; 
do  yon  think  that  there  is  any  more  difficulty  with  the  present  mode  of  determining  duties  upon 
sugar  in  getting  accuracy  about  it,  than  upon  these  three  articles  that  I  have  mentioned  ? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  do  not.  Possibly  there  should  be  one  qualilication  there  with  regard  to  sugars 
of  very  high  quality  that  are  low  in  color— sugars  of  high  grade  as  to  quality,  but  made  low  in 
color— in  other  words  these  sugars  that  are  charged  as  being  artificially  colored— there  might 
come  in  a  question  which  would  involve  a  discussion  of  that  question.  That  is  in  proportion 
to  the  value  of  the  sugar,  the  equities  of  the  case,  or  the  duty  is  not  properly  a  duty  according 
to  value,  it  is  far  from  an  ad  valorem  duty.  Of  course  the  duty  is  specific,  so  many  cents  a 
pound,  but  a  pound  of  sugar  of  high  grade,  of  real  intrinsic  value,  showing  a  high  degree  of 
saccharine  matter,  will  come  in  at  the  same  rate  of  duty  as  the  low  grade  of  sugar  showing  a 
much  less  degree  of  saccharine  matter. 

LuDWiG — I  should  think  such  a  statement  as  that,  taken  with  what  I  have 
said  before,  would  be  nearly  sufficient  for  everybody.  If  not,  so  much  the 
worse  for  their  brains.  But  I  repeat  again,  these  gentlemen  need  not  be  anx- 
ious about  the  government;  it  is  quite  able  to  look  after  the  revenue  without 
them;  it  is  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  way  the  system  works.  I  say  again 
that  if  the  refiners  had  never  imported  a  cargo  of  sugar  direct  themselves,  but 
had  taken  it  from  the  importers,  there  would  never  have  been  a  single  word 
about  frauds  from  the  importers,  and  everything  would  have  worked  as 
smooth  as  a  glove.  Now  your  Cuban  friends  ouglit  to  have  looked  at  home 
before  they  began  to  throw  stones.  They  are  about  the  only  men  who  are  de- 
frauding the  revenue.  They  are  coloring  down  their  high  grade  sugars  with 
caramel,  and  getting  them  in  at  a  low  rate  of  duty,  and  are  the  only  men  who 
are  doing  anything  of  the  sort.  And  it  is  precisely  to  you  Cubans  who  are 
doing  this  sort  of  thing  that  Mr.  Dutcher  refers  in  that  last  statement  of  his. 
Then  there  is  another  nice  little  point  you  Cubans  have  kept  out  of  sight.  You 
want  all  sugars  up  to  No.  16  taxtd  2|  cents  per  pound.  Beyond  No.  16  you 
are  willing  to  have  them  taxed  5  cents  per  pound.  As  the  duty  stands  now, 
even  if  I  succeed  in  passing  a  No.  10  as  a  No.  7,  or  a  No.  13  as  a  No.  10,  the 
government  can  only  Icse  30  cents  per  100  pounds.     But  it  you  Cubans  have  a- 


21 

duty  of  $2.50  per  100  pounds  up  to  No.  16,  and  make  No.  17  and  upwards  pay 
$5  per  100  pounds;  by  passing  a  No.  17  as  a  No.  IG  you  cheat  the  government 
out  of  $2.50,  that  is  30  cents  eight  times  over,  or  800  per  cent,  more  than  any 
any  one  can  defraud  it  now  Now  it  would  be  impossible  to  get  a  No.  10 
sampled  and  classified  as  a  No.  7— the  difference  in  color  is  too  great— but  it 
would  be  easy  to  get  a  No  17  sampled  and  classified  as  a  No.  16.  So  your 
tariff  would  not  only  enable  you  to  cheatthe  government  out  of  eight  times  as 
much  as  any  one  could  (to  suppose  the  impos.sible)  defraud  it  of  now,  but  it 
would  enable  you  to  do  it  much  more  easily.  But  then  you  Cubans  are  such 
good  boys  that  you  would  never  take  advantageof  sucli  a  gaping,  wide-open 
door,  to  walk  into  the  United  States  Treasury  and  help  yourselves.  Oh!  dear 
me,  no!     Not  at  all! 

[Here  I  regret  to  say  old  Ludwig  made  an  extraordinary  grimace,  by  shutting 
his  left  eye,  drawing  his  chin  round  almost  under  his  left  ear,  and  placing  the 
tip  of  his  forefinger  against  the  right  side  of  his  nose  in  a  most  significant 
manner.] 

The  Cuban  didn't  seem  to  like  the  complexion  the  argument  was  taking, 
and  at  once  jumped  into  the  scales. 

Cuban — And  how  about  the  weighing  ? 

LuowiG — There  is  no  use  talking  about  that.  Your  party  know  that  what- 
ever the  tariff  is,  that  sugar  will  have  to  be  weighed  just  as  it  is  now.  They 
can  make  no  point  upon  this,  so  they  don't  attempt  to.  If  the  government 
can't  do  such  a  simple  thing  as  look  after  its  weighers,  it  is  time  for  it  to  give 
up  business.  Now  let  me  overhaul  what  we  have  been  saying.  The  Cuban 
party  want  the  government  to  change  the  tariff:  first,  because  they  say  there 
are  great  sugar  frauds.  This  I  have  proved  to  be  false.  Second,  because  it  is 
difficult  to  sample  the  sutrars.  This  objection  I  have  proved  childish.  And 
having  proved  so  much,  I  now  say  that  the  Cuban  party  and  their  friends  in 
New  York  must  have  had  som^  other  reason  for  wanting  the  tariff  changed.  It 
would  be  simple  impudence  of  them  to  say  to  the  government:  Change  your 
laws,  because  you  are  being  cheated.  That  would  be  like  saying:  You  are  a 
big  fool,  you  can't  take  care  of  your  interests;  set  about  the  thing  in  our  way. 
Oh,  no!  the  real  reason  has  yet  to  come  why  these  good  Cubans  are  so  anxious 
for  the  welfare  of  the  United  States  Treasury. 

Cuban — Well,  so  much  for  that;  what  else  ? 

Ludwig — You  Cuban  gentlemen  think  you  are  exceedingly  smart.  You 
get  your  stupid  stories  about  glucose  and  tin  and  fraud  put  into  the 
newspapers,  but  you  don't  give  the  press  the  real  news,  which  would 
show  what  you  are  aiming  at.  Oh,  no!  that  would  not  suit  you.  That 
is  kept  a  dead  secret;  at  least  you  think  it  is.  But  we  workingmen  have 
got  our  eyes  and  ears  open.  I  have  been  waiting  to  see  in  your  favor- 
ite papers  your  latest  moves.  But  not  one  word.  Well,  I  can  tell  you 
what  you  have  been  doing.  You  have  formed  a  permanent  organization 
to  carry  your  scheme  through  Congress.  You  are  working  underhand 
like  beavers.  One  of  your  head  men  said  the  other  day  that  you  were  ready 
to  spend  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars  at  once  to  carry  through  your  scheme, 
and  its  success  would  be  vary  cheap  to  you  at  the  money.  Then  you  have  made  so 
cock-sure  that  you  are  going  to  carry  it,  that  you  have  already  subscribed  nearly 


22 

a  million  for  the  building  of  pioneer  refineries  in  Cuba,  as  the  alteration  of  the 
law,  of  which  you  are  so  sure,  will  give  you  the  refining  business  and  take  it 
away  from  us.  You  buy  the  press  right  and  left  wherever  you  can,  even  to  the 
miserable  little  "Drone"  we  have  here.  And  now,  sir,  perhaps  you  would 
allow  me  to  ask  you  a  question  or  two.  Of  course  this  extra  refining  done 
in  Cuba  would  make  the  Cuban  planters  a  great  deal  richer  ?" 

Cuban — Yes  ;  I  suppose  it  would  increase  their  incomes  considerably.       ■  ; 

LuDWiG — And  a  good  many  more  men  under  them  would  find  work  and 
get  good  wages,  wouldn't  they  ? 

Cuban — I  don't  think  it  would  alter  the  labor  market  in  Cuba  much. 

LuDwiG — What  !  work  representing  $17,000,000  a  year  not  improve  the 
labor  market  and  give  the  men  better  wages  ?     Why  not  ? 

Cuban — Because  all  the  work  done  on  our  plantations  is  done  by  slaves. 

"  By  slaves !"  echoed  the  old  man.  "  Ah  ! "  and  drawing  a  long  breath,  he 
ooked  at  the  floor  for  a  minute  or  two  in  silence.  He  then  looked  steadily 
into  the  eyes  of  the  olive  man,  and  said  : 

"  Friend,  do  you  know  why  the  North  fought  that  war  from  1860  'till  1864 
against  her  own  flesh  and  blood,  sacrificed  half  a  million  of  men,  and  spent 
four  thousand  millions  of  dollars  ?  Do  you  know  why  nearly  every  third  or 
fourth  family  here  in  the  North  lost  one,  perhaps  more,  of  its  boys  in  that 
war  ?  If  you  don't,  I'll  tell  you.  It  was  to  kill  slavery.  And  you  Cubans 
and  your  New  York  agents  think  Congress  is  going  to  pass  a  law  to  take 
the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  American  citizens  to  enrich  your  Cuban  slave- 
holders, without  even  doing  any  good  to  the  poor  wretclies  you  drive  on  your 
plantations.  Well,  now,  you  just  wait  until  Congress  does  that.  When  it 
does,  you  run  up  that  million  dollar  refinery  in  Cuba,  but  until  then  just  advise 
your  friends  not  to  buy  the  bricks  !" 

Cuban — My  good  friend,  I  can't  see  any  objection  to  our  using  slaves  if  we 
can  get  them. 

LuDwiG — No,  I  suppose  you  can't,  but  we  can  ;  that's  the  difference  ;  and 
your  slave  labor  is  not  going  to  destroy  our  free  labor,  you  can  just  bet  your 
life  on  it.  There  is  a  good  deal  more  to  be  said  on  this  matter,  but  I  think  I 
have  said  enough  to  show  you  Cubans  that  we  workingmen  have  got  our 
eyes  on  you,  and  that  you  have  a  good  deal  more  to  tackle  in  this  fight  than 
a  few  refiners. 


WHY  THE  CUBANS  AND  THEIR  AGENTS,  SOME  NEW  YORK 
IMPORTERS,  WANT  A  UNIFORM  DUTY  OF  2i  CENTS  PER 
POUND  ON  ALL  SUGARS  UP  TO  GRADE  NO.  16  DUTCH 
STANDARD 

Before  giving  this  final  conversation  between  Ludwig  Kraft  and  the  Cuban, 
it  will  be  as  well  to  give  such  explanations  as  will  enable  the  reader  fully  to 
understand  the  matter  in  question. 

1.  All  sugars  are  divided  into  grades;  each  grade  being  numbered  thus:  7, 
8,  10,  13  and  so  on. 

2.  All  grades  of  sugar  are  distinguished  one  from  the  other  by  the  lighter 
or  darker  color  of  the  sugar.  The  lighter  the  color  the  higher  the  grade.  The 
darker  the  color  the  lower  the  grade. 

3.  The  standard  of  color  adopted  in  the  United  States  is  that  laid  down  by 
the  Dutch  (Holland)  government,  and  issued  by  it.  This  standard  of  color  is 
revised  every  two  years. 

4.  Sugars  are,  therefore,  classified  as  being  such  and  such  a  No.,  Dutch 
Standard. 

5.  According  to  this  Dutch  Standard,  the  duties  levied  upon  sugars  are  as 
follows :  the  supposed  cost  in  Cuba  and  the  percentage  of  that  cost  represented 
by  the  duty  are  also  given. 

Cost  in  Cuba.  Duty.  Percentage  of 

Cents  per  Pound.  Cents  per  Pound.  Value  Represented  by 

Duty. 

Melado 2.75 1.87 68  per  cent.. 

No.  7- 3.25 2.187 63       "      " 

No.  10 3.75 2.50 66      "      " 

No.  13 4.00 2.88 70       "      " 

The  above  explanations  and  figures  are  given,  because  during  the  conversa- 
tion both  Kraft  and  the  Cuban  had  the  books  from  which  they  are  taken. 

Kraft — Now,  perhaps,  my  friend,  you  would  state  what  your  Cuban  party 
and  these  importers  want.  But  we  must  not  have  any  talk  about  adulteration 
or  fraud  mixed  up  with  this  question.  I  think  I  have  pretty  well  exploded 
that. 

Cuban — We  want  a  uniform,  or,  if  you  choose,  a  specific  duty  of  2^  cents 
per  pound  on  all  grades  of  sugar  up  to  No.  16  Dutch  Standard,  and  we  say 
that  if  the  duty  were  so  levied,  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  would  get 
better  sugar,  and  get  it  cheaper. 

Ludwig — Well,  come,  that  is  something  like  talk  at  last.  I  notice  you  don't 
Bay  anything  about  the  immense  advantages  this  would  at  once  give  your  half- 


24 


refined  high  grade  sugars  over  the  low  grade  raw  sugars  imported  here.  But 
I  think  we  huil  better  seltle  that  fir<t  and  then  we  will  see  how  mu'h  better 
and  cheaper  the  sugars  would  be  {that  you  would  give  tJie  people)  than  what  they 


are  getting  now. 


Just  look  at  the  following  table: 
Supposed  Cost 


No.  16- 
No.  13- 
No.  10- 
No.  7- 
Melado 


of  Snjiiir  at  Place  of 
Production. 

.-Per  lb.  5i  cents, 

ti  t  I  A  it 

..  "  "  3f  "  .. 
..  "  "  Sir  "  -. 
--    "      "     2|     "     .. 


Duty  Paid. 


Percentagp  of 
Value  Absorbed  by 
Duty. 


-2^  cents 45^  per 

.2^    "     62i    " 

-2i    "     66      " 

.2i    "     77      " 

_2i    "     _-.91      " 


cent. 


You  see  from  that  table,  that  wich  a  uniform  duty  of  2^  cents  for  all 
sugar,  your  highest  grade  of  sugar  piys  only  45 J  per  cent,  duty,  and  that  the 
lowest  grade  imported  here  ■'ays  91  per  cent.  Even  if  you  make  the  duty 
uniform  up  to  the  16th,  the  case  is  still  the  same.  That  is  45^  per  cent,  against 
the  poor  man  in  favor  of  the  rich,  right  from  the  start.  Suppose  the  sugar  and 
the  duty  to  be  represented  by  balls;  the  duty  you  pay  on  your  Cuban  sugar 
compared  with  the  sugar  itself  would  be  a  little  ball,  so: 


The  duty  paid  «-n  the  lowest  grade  sugar  imported  by  the  refiners  would  be 
a  ball  nearly  as  big  as  the  sugar  itself,  thus : 


25 

LuDwiG— It  certainly  is  very  kind  of  you  to  yourselves  to  ask  for  that 
advantage  at  the  start. 
Cur.AN— But  then  our  sugars  can  go  to  the  table  at  once  and  won't  need 

refining. 

LuDwm— Dear  me,  how  considerate  you  are ;  Yes,  I  suppose  some  of  them 
could.  Your  party  and  their  New  York  agents  are  very  tender  about  the  peo- 
ple's stomachs.  You  do  not  want  them  to  eat  our  refined  sugars  because  you 
say  they  are  adulterated,  which  I  have  proved  to  be  a  falsehood.  And  yet 
you  want  to  give  them  raw  sugars,  which  are  all  full  of  the  sugar  mite.  I 
have  a  drawing  of  this  interesting  insect,  which  you  Avill  give  the  people  for 
nothing  in  their  coffee  and  tea.     Here  it  is:  they  call  it  the  "  Acarus  Sacchari." 


AcARUS  Sacchari  (Sugar  Mite)  Magnified. 


You  clever  men,  when  you  were  talking  about  adulterations,  took  good  care 
not  to  say  that  these  animals  are  found  in  all  raw  sugar.  Hassel  says  he  found 
them  in  almost  every  one  of  100  samples  of  raw  sugar,  but  none  in  refiend 
S'/gar.  He  found  some  alive  and  some  dead,  and  fragments  of  others,  as  well 
as  undeveloped  eggs.  In  15  grains  of  one  sample  he  found  over  100  living 
Acari,  or  43,000  to  the  paund. 

And  it  is  by  selling  stuff  with  that  quantity  of  animals  in  it  that  you  pro- 
pose to  give  the  people  better  sugar  than  the  refiners,  in  whose  sugar  there  are 
none  !     How  kind  you  are  ! 

Cuban — I  never  heard  anything  of  this  before  ! 

LuDwiG — No  doubt  you  didn't;  but  that  dont'  prevent  the  animals  from 
being  there,  as  I  know  to  my  cost,  and  as  the  grocers  used  to  know  when  they 
handled  raw  sugars.  Of  course  yon  have  heard  of  the  grocer's  itch?  These 
are  the  little  fellows  that  cause  it.  You  Cubans  are  just  the  men  they  like; 
you  don't  interfere  with  them.  Well,  now,  what  sugars  have  you  got  that  are 
better  than  the  best  refined  sugar  here  ? 

Cuban— Well  perhaps  I  was  wrong  in  sajdng  ;better  sugars,  but  certainly 
cheaper. 

Ludwig — No ;  they  are  not.  The  price  at  which  you  can  give  the  people 
your  r.v.v  sugars  with  the  animals  is  too  high.       They  want  our  refined 


26 

sugars,  without  tlie  animals,  at  lower  prices,  and  they  get  them.  Of  course 
this  is  hard  on  you  Cubans.  We  can  give  the  people  the  very  best  sugars 
cheaper  tlian  you  can,  and  we  can  give  them  lower  grades  of  first-rate  soft 
yellow  sugars,  which  suit  the  present  hard  times,  and  to  which  they  have 
taken  a  great  liking,  all  the  way  from  6|  cents  to  1^^  cents.  These  sugars  you 
don't  produce  at  all,  and  never  could  at  the  price,  caai  with  your  slave  labor. 
You  people  are  very  modest  !  All  you  want  the  American  refiner  to  do  is  to 
buy  your  sugar  at  7+  to  9  cents  a  pound,  and  spend  his  capital  in  redu- 
cing it  to  refined  sugar  at  6J  to  7  cents  a  pound.  Very  kind  of  you,  indeed,  as 
the  eel  said  lo  the  fish-hawk  Avho  was  looking  for  a  breakfast,  and  wanted  him 
to  come  to  the  top  of  the  water. 

Now  then,  I've  proved  to  you  : 

1.  That  the  driven-out-of-the-business  cry  is  a  sham  and  a  pretence. 

3.  That  the  adulteration  cry  is  a  falsehood  ;  that  the  men  that  made  it  knew 
i   to  be  so ;  that  they  dared  not  attack  in  the  open  day  ;  that  no  refiner  could 

ulterate  without  ruining  himself. 

3.  That  the  fraud  cry  was  as  hollow  as  the  adulteration  cry  ;  that  your 
men  would  only  be  too  glad  to  prove  it,  but  could  not  ;  and  that  they  had  an 
object  in  making  these  two  erics,  viz.,  to  set  Congress  and  the  people  against 
the  refiners. 

4.  That  your  object  in  asking  for  a  uniform  2^  cent  duty  is  to  fill  your  own 
pockets,  give  the  people  sugar  teemmg  with  animals  and  Cuban  dirt,  and 
ruin  the  refiners. 

5.  That  you  can't  give  the  people  sugar  either  so  good  or  so  cheap  as  the 
refiners,  and  that  therefore  your  whole  cry  and  pretensions  are  a  hollow 
money-making  sham  and  fraud. 

Turn  over  all  this  in  your  mind,  and  you  can  safely  conclude  that  as  soon  as 
Spain  or  Cuba  will  break  up  and  ruin  such  an  industry  as  that  at  home  to 
gratify  us,  so  soon  will  the  United  Slates  break  up  and  ruin  us  and  this  im- 
mense industry  to  gratify  them  and  fill  their  pockets,  hut  not  sooner.  Good 
night,  my  friend. 

So  saying,  Ludwig  lighted  his  pipe,  drew  his  chair  near  the  fire,  gave  me  a 
sly' wink  and  began  looking  over  the  election  returns,  being  very  anxious 
about  the  workingmen's  candidates. 

I  regret  to  say  that  since  the  night  when  Ludwig  gave  him  the  last  dose  we 
have  not  seen  our  Cuban  friend. 


[From  The  New  York  Staats  Zeitung.] 

A  Refined  Fight  against  the  Sugar  Refineries. 


We  publish  to-day  elsewhere  an  article  upon  the  suirar  ques- 
tion, or  to  be  more  exact,  upon  the  attempts  which  have  been, 
and  are  still  being,  made  to  ruin  tlie  American  sugar  industry. 
This  article  is  from  the  pen  of  a  gentleman  who  seems  to  have 
studied  the  subject  thoroughly.  The  refining  of  raw  sugar 
occupies,  as  every  one  knows,  an  important  place  among  the 
industries  of  this  country.  It  is  claimed  that  ten  thousand  men, 
chiefly  Germans,  have  hitherto  found  work  and  bread  in  the 
suirar  reiinino;  business.* 

We  invite  all  these,  as  well  as  the  intelligent  reader,  to  ponder 
over  the  fact  that  o-reat  dano-er  is  threatening  this  branch  of  in- 
dustry,  and  that  this  danger  can  be  warded  off  only  by  the 
thorough  enlightenment  of  public  opinion  upon  this  matter 
before  it  is  too  late.  The  article  above  mentioned  will  be  a  very 
material  aid  to  this  end,  and  to  it  we  wish  to-day  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  public. 

The  main  strength  of  this  industry  is  based  upon  the  fact, 
that  the  American  sugar  refiners  are  able  to  produce  from  low 
grade  and  cheap  classes  of  sugar  an  excellent  article  of  con- 
sumption; an  article  which,  by  reason  of  its  very  superior  quality 
and  its  cheapness  is  preferred  to  all  other  products  of  this  kind 
Consequently  it  is  important  to  this  industry,  that  it  shall,  as  far 
as  possible,  be  able  to  import  these  classes  of  raw  sugar  unshackled 


*NoTE. — But  this  by  no  means  repieseuts  the  army  of  men  dependent 
upon  sugar  refining  for  a  livelihood.  The  20,000  liiinber  cutters,  stave  trim- 
mers and  lioop-makers  of  Michigan,  Ohio  and  Indiana,  who  prepare  materials 
for  the  sugar  barrels,  have  to  be  taken  into  account.  The  5,033  engaged  in 
coopering;  the  2,500  constantly  employed  in  making  sugar  refining  machinery; 
the  men  working  at  the  animal  charcoal  (bone-bluclc)  business,  '60,000,000  lbs. 
of  which  are  used  annually;  the  miners  who  work  the  o00,000  tons  of  coal 
annually  used  in  refineries;  the  railroad  men  required  to  load,  unload,  and 
run  the  30,000  cars  of  staves,  &c.,  which  come  East;  all  these  have  to  be 
taken  into  account,  and  would  represent  from  50,000  to  00,000.  These,  with 
the  families  dependent  upon  them,  would,  at  a  moderate  estimate,  make  upa 
total  of  some  150,000,  all  dependent  on  the  sugar  refining  indudstry  for  their 
daily  bread. 


philanthropic  slave-labor  producers  want  a  unifoi-m  rate  of  duty 
of  24-  cents  per  pound  on  all  these  grades  of  sugar,  by  M'hich  they 
pimply  aim  at  getting  in  their  product  at  a  percentage  of  not  over 
4:6fo  of  its  home  value,  whilst  all  the  low  grade  raw  sugars 
shall  pay  also  2^-  cents  per  pound,  or  72^^,  and  thus  be  excluded 
from  importation.  This  little  arrangement  proposed  by  the  Cu- 
ban slaveholders  and  their  philanthropic  American  friends  is,  so 
far  as  these  people  are  concerned,  all  the  more  astute,  as  well  as 
the  more  intelligible,  when  one  considers  that  they  very  probably 
have  lieavy  mortgages  on  their  plantations  as  well  as  upon  their 
movable  property. 

4.  The  refiners  of  the  United  States,  who  have  brought  their 
industry  to  the  highest  state  of  perfection,  need  no  protection  and 
ask  for  none.  In  fact,  they  wish  to  see  sugar,  both  raw  and  re- 
fined, on  the  free  list.  Bat  tliey  say  :  If  the  Government  must 
levy  a  duty  upon  sugar,  the  duty  should  be  so  fixed  that  the  low- 
grade  sugars  should  pay  no  higher  ad  valorem  duty  than  the  high 
grades.  But  if  a  specific  tax  of  2^  cents  per  pound  is  levied  on 
all  grades  of  sugar  up  to  No.  16,  then  this  tax  becomes  a  prohib- 
itive one  on  the  lower  grades,  which  are  bought  abroad  at  '6\-^ 
cents  per  pound,  and  refined  in  this  country.  This  demand  of 
the  refiners  is  so  iust  that  one  cannot  see  how  Conoress  can 
deny  it. 

<5.  Both  Congress  and  the  trade  desire  a  specific  duty  upon 
raw  sugar.  But  this  can  be  introduced  with  safety  cmly  if  the  so- 
called  Polariscope  method  of  testing  sugars  be  adopted,  a  method 
which  is  now  employed  everywhere  in  Europe  and  the  United 
States  for  the  testing  of  sugars. 

We  await  with  interest  the  repoit  of  Mr.  Wells  upon  this  sub- 
ject. This  much  is  quite  certain,  that  in  the  present  conjuncture 
there  is  not  the  least  question  of  a  protective  Tariff  for  the  refiners. 
Their  industry,  on  which,  as  already  stated,  thousands  of  citizens 
of  German  descent  depend,  needs  no  protection  whatever.  They 
ha%'e  a  right  to  protest  against  the  project  of  a  uniform  rate  of 
duty,  which  would  ruin  them  and  only  enrich  the  Cuban  slave- 
holders. We  intend  to  keep  a  watchful  eye  upon  the  doings  of 
the  Cuban  monopolists. 


C3tu§  bcr  ,,'il  e>D  =  'gotfet  Staat§=:3cUun  g") 
yioD.  16.  1878. 

^m  raffinirter  liampf  gcgeu  hit  Eiickcr- 

Haffiucricu. 

2Bir  ijublicircn  Ijeute  an  anbem-@tet(eemeit''Jlttide(  iiber  bieguderftagc,  ober  gctmuer,  iitet  bteSSer^ 
fud)e,  meld)c  gcmad)t  inorben  finb  unb  nod)  gcmadjt  luerben,  bie  amcrifQnijdjc  guder^^nbuftrie  ju  ruini= 
ten.  ®cr  %rMd  I'tammt  au5  bcr  ^ebcr  eine§  TOanncg,  roeldjer  beti  ©cgcnitnub  gcunblid)  ftubirt  ju 
l)abm  {(point.  Untet  ben  3nbuytvic3raeigcn  be§  2anbc§  nimmt  bo§  Saffiniten  ober  3tcinigen  bc§ 
gjoI)3uder§  bctanntermaBcn  eine  bebeutenbc  ©telle  ein.  5Kan  nimmt  an,  bag  3cl)n  taulcub  banner, 
aumcift  ®cutid)c,  bisber  im  gudergefdjiift  *Krtictt  iinb  Srob  gefunben  iiabcu.  3l)nen  ^lUen,  foinic  ben 
berftanbigcn  ycjevn  iibertjaupt,  gcben  mir  ju  bcbcnten,  bag  biefcm  ^nbuftriejiocig  bebcutcnbe  ©cfaljrcn 
brot)en,  bie  nur  baburd)  abgewcnbct  luerbcn  tbnnen,  bafe  bie  iiffeiitlidje  Wcinung  iiber  bieje  ^tngetcgcnljcit 
griinblid)  aiifgcttdrt  loirb,  befior  e§  ju  jpiit  ift.  (Jin  beod)tcn§roertt|cr  23eitrag  ju  biefem  5Bei)ufe  ift  ber 
{raglidje  ?lrtidcl,  auf  ben  wir  l)cute  bie  ^ufmerijamteit  be§  '|(ublifum§  tenfen  mijdjten. 

®ie  §auptforce  unferer  gudcrr^nbuftrie  beruht  auf  bcm  llmitanb,  bag  bie  ameritaniidjen  3uder= 
g^obritanten  befaljigt  [inb,  au§  an!d)cineub  genngen  unb  iDoljtfcilenguderlorten  em  tiortrefflid)e§  ^robuct 
Ijcrjuitetlen  —  cin  *;irobuct,  bag  inegeu  femer  au§gc3eid)netcn  Qualitat  unb  loegen  jcincr  aSoblfciUjeit  aflen 
isrobucteu  biejer  *Krt  Dorgejogen  toirb.  Sm  Snterejje  biejer  3nbu[trie  liegt  eg  bes^alb,  bie  betreffenbcn 
gotten  Don  31ol)3uder  mijglidjft  frei  Won  ^pemntnifjen  unb  erfdiwerenben  ?lbgaben  ju  importtren.  SBaS 
biefen  Smport  cvleid)tert,  nsirb  3ur  ^lebung  bicfeS  ^nbuftvicjlncigc?  bcitrogen;  n)0§  it)n  crjd)Wert,  loirb 
bie  atajfinericu  unb  3uderarbeiter  jd)abigcu,  unb  roa§  enblidj  ben  import  ruinirt,  mufe  oud)  bie 
betrcftcubc  Snbuitrie  rumiren. 

SDer^lngnit  get)t  uon  ben  cubanijd)en  Suderpf'anjern  unb  it)ren  ?lgentjn  qu§  ;  ber  ?lngtitt§l)unEr 
ift  ber  Sarif.  SBie  eg  in  unjerm  3nteret|e  liegt,  n)ot)tfeilf  gurferforten  ju  importiren  unb  iljren  5a3ertl) 
burd)  Snbuftrie  3u  etl)ol)en,  fo  liegt  eg  im  Sntereije  ber  cubanifc^en  H-^flanser,  bie  befferen  ©orten  }u 
l)ol)en  '^Jreijen  absufe^en.  Um  biefen  gined  ju  erreidjen,  mad)m  fie  ben  l)armlog  fdjeineuben  SBorfdjlag, 
ben  2arif  fo  abjuanbetn,  boB  alle  guderforten  unter  ^o.  16  ben  ndmlidjeu  3oa  Don  2^  (£ent§  per 
!}ifunb  3U  be3Ql)len  l)aben.  C®«  ©infeuber  fprid)t  nur  uon  2  Kentg  per  *4>funb  ;  inbefjcn  tommt  el  Ijiet 
nidjt  fo  feljr  auf  bie  §ot)e  al§  ouf  bie  ©(eid)maijigfeit  ber  3ofl=3tate  fiir  oerjtbiebene  Sorten  an.  ®ie 
SBirtung  bleibt  bet  bciben  <ttngaben  biefelbe.)  63  ift  flar,  bag  bure^  eine  foldje  TOagnaljme  bie  p^ern 
unb  t^cuerern  Sorten  im  SSergleid)  ju  ben  ntebern  unb  biHigeu  begiinftigt  roiirben  unb  bie  SBirfung  redre, 
boB  loir  bie  l)i)l)crn,  ber  Saffinerie  taum  bebiirfenben  ©ortcn  importiren  wiirben.  TOit  anbern  aSorten: 
5Cet  import  be§  bitligen  3tol)3uder3  wiirbe  aufl^Sren  unb  bamit  au^  bie  ^nbuftrie,  weldje  burd)  biefcu 
3mport  bebingt  ift. 

SDie  ?lgitation  fiir  bie  §erbeifut)rung  biefeS  Kefultatg  ift  feit  emcm  3at)r  im  botten  ®ange.  Um  ben 
CongreB  williger  sn  mod)en,  ^at  man  bie  3uder=3mporteure  be§  58cttug§  unb  bie  3uder=5obritanten 
ber  sajaarenoerfdlfdjung  befd)ulbigt.  93eibe  ?lnflageu  nab  burd)  amtlidjc  geugen^'JUtSfagen  auf  bag 
©lan3enbftc  wiberlegt  worben  ;  inbeffen  toerben  fte  neucrbingg  reiebet  ertioben,  unb  roir  l)often,  bag  fie 
je^t  enbgiiltig  TOiberlegt  werben.  ©efj^t,  bie  Sefc^ulbigungen  rodren  begriinbet,  jo  fietjt  man  nid)t  redjt 
ein,  ttiarum  bie  tlebeltt)ater  bur^  eine  monftrofe  a3ert)un3ung  beg  larifg  bcftraft  wcrbeu  follten.  Se= 
triigt  ber  Smporteur  bie  Utegierung,  fo  mag  er  nadj  ben  befteljenben  ©efefeen  beftroft  werben,  unb  Ber= 
faljd)t  ber  gurferfabritant  feme  UBaatcn,  fo  giebt  eg  5JJittel  unb  2Bege  genug,  il)m  bo?  ^anbwerf  ju 
legen.  ®ie  ?lgenten  bet  cubanifd)en  ^iSftanjet  tcnnen  frcilid)  itjre  *^5appenl)cimer  unb  ne  wifint  gut  flfnufl, 
boB  unfete  6ongteBd)cinnet  bei  einet  jenjeiligen  Setatt)ung  beg  iotifS  fid)  reeber  butc^  ba5  Sntereffe  beS 
SJanbeg  no^  iibetl)aupt  burc^  toirtt)fd)aftlid)e  3;i)atfad)en  leitcn  lafjen.  Unter  biefen  Umftanben  moflen  Pe 
il;r  3iel  [eid)t  genug  erreit^en,  wenn  m6)i  bie  ofteutlid)e  2Keinung  re^tjeitig  bie  Sntereffen  unfetet  !>«» 
wijdjtn  Snbufttie  |U  waijren  »erm«fl. 


Sffitt  un5  mitget^eitt  Wirb,  icaren  bit  Ijieftfltn  3mJ«=3lQffinivet  emuetftauben,  bafe  ber  3ntfer  =  l 
Soil  ganj  \\tle  ,  um  ju  bcwcijcit,  baj;  tic  ^JiidjtS  Cetlaugfn,  tnaS  emcm  Sd)ut35DU  glfid)jdf)c;  aber  fie  j 
^rotcftireii  bagfcicu,  bas  man  bcu  3{ul)itotf,  bcjjcn  fie  bcbiivtcn,  unDcrljQltniBmaBig  beitcucre  unb  jcinej 
fevnerc  SSerarbcitung  in  bicjcm  i!aube  unmijglid)  iiiad)c.  SBie  bcbcutlid)  Bie  Grjcljung  ber  aBcvttjjIJUc  butd)  j 
ipecijiidjegiJUe  iff,  imcb  burd)  CicjcS  Seijpicl  iUuftritt.  (Sin  gleidjmajsigcr  jpccijiidjer  JJott  fiit^uderj 
toarc  cin  Sdju^joll  fiir  bit  au§Ianbi)(i)en  i^tobuctnten,  trial)rcnb  bci  einem  SBertl^jotlj 
obet  bei  ^oUjvcibcit  baii  '■JlusUmb  mit  bcin  ijicr  raffinittcit  ^U-dtx  nidjt  concurrircn  tijnnte. 

5ffiie  mil-  au§  iidjcrer  Ouclle  crfal)rc',i,    batcn  bie  3uder=iRaffinirer  hm  befannten  9ialionQl=Ccfono= 
mm  Xav'it  "M.  aOcUs  crjud)t,  bic  compiicirte  [yrnge  gu  untcrjudjeu  unb  bariibcr  ®erid)t  5U  evftatten.   2et| 
SBeridjt  iBirb  bcin  Scrnebmcn  iiad)  bolb  im  ®rudc  etfdicinen  unb  bie  ^ntcicijentcn,  fonjie  baS  H-'UbtitumI 
ubcrl)nupt,  fbmien  fid)  bncauf  nedofjcn,  bas  ,§ecr  iffictta  eine  cfacnfo  flare  atg  praftifd)c  iibjung  bev  5rage| 
•empfcl)len  luitb,  bie,  loie  unjer  K-infcnber  ridjtig  bemctft,  boS  2anb  feit  met)v  als  einem  3al)re  bcun= 
rul)igt  l)at. 

aBit  roevben  im  <RQ(^ftcl;cnbcu  bie  Scid)iDcrbcn  unftreS  ginjenberS  unb  bai  SDUefen  ber  SontroPerfeJ 
,ju  ertliircu  judjcn. 

1)  ©agmiuartig  toirb  ber  ^ott  auf  3utfcr  nod)  bem  fog.  garbe^Seft,  obcr  nad)  ber  JjoUanbifdjcuj 
5t!riifung5mctl)0be  erljobcn,  unb  jiuar  fo,  bay  ber  ^oU  fiir  bie  geringften  .^ucterjorten  (51o.  7)  1^  (fentSl 
^jer  ']>]aab  bctidgt  uiib  fiir  bic  l)Bheicn  Sorten  grabueU  fai^  auf  4  dent-i  per  *|!funb  ftcigt.  Sag  6riterium| 
fiir  bie  Uutcvid,cibuug  ber  iicijdjicbcncn  Sortcu  bilbet  bie  Jarbe. 

2)  ®icfe  ^yietl)obe  bat  fid)  au;;  bent  cinfadicn  ©runbe  al§  mangetbaft  criDiejcn,  njeil  cine  gucferforte,! 
iie  nad)  ^JJafegabe  ber  jjarbejur  nicbngftcn  (flafje,  alfo  etwa  ju  ^lo.  7  get)Brt,  febr  Biel  3udergcl)a(tj 
l^abcn  unb  barum  fiir  bic  ^^uderprobuftion  roerjhPoaer  fein  tonn,  alS  ein  Ijetter  geforbtcr  ^ndev,  ber  juj 
9!o.  10gel)ort.  ®al)er  ia^  ®cfd)rci  fiber  93ctriigcreien  unb  3"rfer>'ttfiilldiung.  ^ebermann,  ber  miti 
bem  3uderl;anbcl  ober  mit  ber  3udcr='Jtaffinerie  ettoaS  ju  tl)uu  tiat,  ift  mit  biefcm  '45tiifungg=Si)ftem| 
itnjufriebcn  unb  bn5  Sd)al;amt  nid)t  miuber. 

3)  2;ie  cubanifd)cn  'i^flauier,  wcld)c  jtuei  1)niid  unfercr  3tol)3uder=6inful)r  tiefern,  Herlangcn  nun,| 
iir  aaeSudcrjortcn,  bic  ber  Jarbe  nad)  biS  ju  "Jio.  16  claffificirt  luerben  tijnncn,  ein  unb  bicfdbe  3oa= 

ainte.  9Jo.  16  aber  ift  eine  burd)  bie  Kcntrifugal^Wafdjine  in  Kuba  1)016  raffluirtcr  ^udcr,  weld)er  inj 
(£uba  burd))d)uittlid)  5)4  Kentd  per  *4>fb.  lucrtl)  ift.  ^^icjc  pl)t)lantl)ropiid)en  SElaiicn=3uder=n>robuccntenj 
loiinfdjcn  nun  cine  glcid)majiige  3oa--9tatc  Don  2)a  (Sentu  per  '4>fb.  fiir  a\ic  bicje  .Hudcrfortcn,  luoburd)  fiej 
bcjinedcn,  bafj  it)r  *4.*rDbuct  unter  einem  3oa  cingcfiil)rt  roiirbe,  ber  46^  nid)t  iiberftcigt,  tt)cil)rcnb  aQri 
anbcvcn,  gcringern  SHobgudcr.Sorten,  cincn  burd)fd)nittlid)cn  gotl  Don  3X  C£cutS  pei  *i>fb.  obcr  72^  be=| 
.jaljicn  unb  bc§t)alfa  Don  ber  (Jinfubr  ausgefdjloifen  miirben.  2)icfe  ficine,  Don  ben  cubamfd)en  *2lcticn=| 
3nl)flbcrn  unb  il)ren  pl)i)Iuntbropifd)cn  omeritnr.ifd)cn  a-reunben  in'§  SBcrt  gefetite  "Arrangement  erfdjcint] 
mit  fflcjug  auf  bicfc  ficuie  um  fo  raffinirter,  aber  aud)  um  fo  bcgreiflid)er,  meun  man  bebcntt,  baf;  fiej 
fel)r  iDat)rfd)eiuIi^  groBc  §i)pDtljcfen  auf  ben  "4>lanta9cn  unb  auf  bem  beiDeglid)en  (Sigeutl;um  in  (£uba| 
l^Qben. 

4)  Sic  aiafflnirer  in  ben  Ser.  Staaten,  wel^e  il)rc  3nbuftric  nad)gerabe  auf  ben  l)od)ften  ®rab  berl 
|a>oatommcnl;cif  gcbrad)t  l)nbcn,  bebiirfen  tcincr  "i'rotcction  unb  fie  Dcrlangcn  audj  feine.    3n  ber  3;i)atJ 

fie  loiinjdjcn  ben  Sucfer  auf  ber  Jreilifte  5u  fcljcn  ^-in  rol)en  joroot)!  alS  ben  raffinirtcn.  9lttein  fie  jagcn:! 
5Bcnn  bic  3icgicrung  cmc  afcBcnuc  Dom  ^U-^ci-' I'U'-''"  '"life-  i"  ift  bic  Sad)c  fo  ju  arrangircn,  bafe  bicT 
gcringern  ^uicrfoitcn  fcincn  l)ol)ern  ai'er:l)3oU  ju  bcjablcn  l)oben,  alg  bie  bcjfcrn.  Sic  ncrlangcn,  inl 
biefcm  5aU  einen  SBcrtbgott  Don  40  bi§  JO  45roc3!it  auf  aUe  Sucferjorten.  aScnn  aber  cin  |pecififd)cr  ^oul 
Son  2>^  gents  auf  afle  ^uderforten  bis  :u  "Jio.  IG  erl)oten  rairb,  bann  loirb  bicfer  3oU  in  i^cjug  auf  bie[ 
gcringern  Sortcn,  bieju  3}4  bis  4  gents  p:r  "l^funb  gctauft  unb  in  biefcm  ^anbe  gcrcinigt  merbcn,  pro= 
IjibitiD.  Sicjcg  aSerlangcn  ber  SRaffiniicr  ift  )o  sci-ed)t,  bag  man  nid)t  einficlit,  icie  ber  gongrcfe  baficlfae| 
abiucijen  tnnn. 

5)  ®cr  gongrcB  fowol)!,  mie  bic  fiaufmnnnfdjaft  wiinfdjcn  einen  fpccififdien  3on  auf  Koljsutfer.; 
5Diefer  fann  jebod)  nur  unter  ber  SScbiugung  mit  5id)erl)cit  eingcfiiljrt  lucrbcn,  iDciin  ber  3udcr  nad)  berl 
log.  *4.*olaristope=?:)ktbobc,  bie  jcfet  allentl)albcn  in  ©uropa  unb  in  ben  SBcr.  ©taaten  5ur  H.<rufung  be§| 
3udcrg  angcroanbt  iDirb. 

aSiv  cnuQrtcn  mit  grofjcr  Spannung  ben  93crid3t  be?  §errn  aBctl'S  iiber  bicfc  Jragc.    So  Did  ftel)tl 
eft,  bag  eg  fid)  bei  biefcr  *Jlngclcgenl)cit  nid)t  im  minbcften  um  cincn  2d)ul;,5oU  fiir  bic  Staffinirer  banbclt.l 
3t)re  Snbuftrie,  bie,  mic  bercitS  bemertt,  2aufcu:.  uon  Siirger  bcutfd)er  "ilbfunft  beid)iiftigt,  bcbarf  tcincrj 
l^irotcftion.    ©ie  ^abcn  ein  Sed)t,  gegen  iai,  ^iirojeft  ber  gIeid;maBigen  3oU=atatcn  gu  proteftircn,  luetdje 
fie  ruiniren  unb  nur  biccubauifdjen  Stlfluenbaitcr  bercid;crn  lotirbe.    SBir  reerben  ein  n)od)lomcS  "Jluaq 
auf  baa  3;i;un  unb  Srcibcn  ber  cubaniid)en  93ionopoliftcn  rid)tcn. 


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